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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25070341">When Logan Met Veronica</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oliviet/pseuds/Oliviet'>Oliviet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, F/M, Fake Dating, Mutual Pining, Only One Bed, Romantic Comedy, VMTAP20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:28:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>33,763</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25070341</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oliviet/pseuds/Oliviet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Can two friends sleep together and still love each other in the morning?" AU based off of the movie When Harry Met Sally.<br/>When Mac introduces her two friends who are moving to New York at the same time, they immediately butt heads. Logan poses the theory that men and women can't be friends because sex always gets in the way and Veronica sets out to prove him wrong. As the years pass and Logan and Veronica can't seem to escape each other in the city, they manage to form an actual friendship. But will it stay just a friendship for long?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>211</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was no way her LeBaron was going to make it all the way to New York City. Which is why when Mac told her she had a friend who was also making the trip in a much more reliable vehicle, she jumped at the chance to road trip with him and split the driving time and gas money in half. But this friend of hers was not exactly what she expected. Neither was his “reliable vehicle.” Surely the gas mileage on his yellow eyesore of an SUV was not ideal to drive all the way from southern California to New York City. But it was spacious enough for all their belongings they were taking with them in the move and was hopefully still cheaper than flying and shipping her belongings to follow.</p><p>But Mac’s friend…he was…something else.</p><p>Logan Echolls had gone to high school with Mac. Veronica still wasn’t clear on how exactly their friendship had formed, but it sounded like it all started because she had been dating his best friend’s younger brother. Mac and the brother split before college, but her friendship with Logan had remained.</p><p>And now, Veronica stands outside of the apartment building she and Mac had been roommates in for their last two years of undergrad, glaring at this obnoxious yellow car. She’s waiting for Logan’s girlfriend to stop making out with him in the front seat so she can get in and they can get this trip on the road. She’d already loaded all of her belongings in the back and said goodbye to Mac after giving her some choice words about the situation she just ended up in for the next two to three days. But Logan and this random girl she has no name for are relentless.</p><p>From her research, it was going to take them around 42 hours to get to New York and that was without traffic or making any stops. It would be perfect if they could take turns sleeping while the other person was driving, allowing them to get there in the shortest amount of time possible. But she didn’t know if Logan would go for that. She knows nothing about him really, other than he has terrible taste in cars and perhaps women.</p><p>Veronica clears her throat. “We’re going to hit morning traffic on 94 East if we don’t leave now.”</p><p>Logan grunts and pulls apart from the girl for the briefest of moments. “There’s always traffic on 94 East.”</p><p>He resumes right where he left off and she’s <em>this</em> close to calling Mac back down here to talk some sense into this friend of hers when the girlfriend finally sits back in the passenger seat away from him.</p><p>“I’m going to miss you,” she says, looking over at him all doe eyed.</p><p>Veronica nearly throws up in her mouth.</p><p>“I’ll miss you more,” he coos back.</p><p>Veronica makes a fake gagging noise earning herself irritated glares from both of them. She smiles sweetly at them and starts impatiently tapping her foot until the girlfriend finally gets out of his Xterra. She glares at Veronica as she passes her, as though she’s threatening her not to try anything with <em>her</em> boyfriend. She just rolls her eyes in response and climbs into the passenger seat.</p><p>“Ugh the seat’s all warm,” she grumbles, reaching for the seatbelt.</p><p>“Well, what did you expect?” Logan laughs, turning the key in the ignition. “Got everything?”</p><p>“I better,” she sighs.</p><p>He waves at his girlfriend one last time before finally pulling away from the apartment building.</p><p>“How ever will you two survive living on opposite sides of the country?” she groans, sliding her sunglasses down from the top of her head.</p><p>“Oh we won’t,” he says pulling out of the neighborhood and out onto a main road. “She thinks we’re going to make long distance work, but we’re 100% not.”</p><p>“What a charming guy.”</p><p>“I’m realistic,” Logan corrects. “Relationships can’t survive without sex.”</p><p>Veronica snorts. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”</p><p>“Oh yeah? How long have any of your relationships survived without you sleeping with the guy?”</p><p>“That’s none of your business.”</p><p>“You have had sex, right?”</p><p>“Also none of your business.”</p><p>“Come on, Ronnie. We’ve got at least two days to kill. Tell me your life story.”</p><p>She crosses her arms over her chest. “First of all, don’t call me Ronnie.”</p><p>“Oh, here we go,” Logan groans.</p><p>“And second of all,” she continues, talking right over him. “I don’t have a life story. I’m 22 and still waiting for my life to start.”</p><p>“What does that even mean? You were born a 22-year-old? Everybody has a story, even you, Ronnie.”</p><p>She grumbles at the continued use of the nickname she hates. “I’m from a small town in California. Nothing ever happens there. Everybody knows everybody’s business and it’s exhausting. I’m ready to see what else is out there.”</p><p>“All right, that’s a start,” he says, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel in time to the music at a stoplight. “Why New York? Of all the fresh starts, what was the appeal here?”</p><p>“I got into Columbia Law School.”</p><p>Logan snorts. “That explains so much.”</p><p>She turns to glare at him, narrowing her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”</p><p>“An Ivy League lawyer,” he shakes his head. “So, what? Mommy and Daddy couldn’t shell out the cash to book you a flight so you didn’t have to drive cross-country with some stranger?”</p><p>Veronica huffs, shaking her head and turning to stare out the window as he merges onto the highway. “You don’t know the first thing about me or my family.”</p><p>“Enlighten me.”</p><p>“Again, not that it’s any of your business, but I’m on full scholarship to Columbia. I worked my ass off to get in there. I don’t come from money. My dad’s the sheriff of our small town and my mom took off when I was a teenager. I’m going to law school to help people, to fight for the people whose voices the system tries to take away. You don’t <em>know me</em>, Logan. You don’t get to sit there and make snap judgements.”</p><p>That shuts him up for a bit and they drive in silence for a few miles, the only noise coming from the radio and the beginnings of rush hour traffic. As luck would have it, they get stuck behind an accident and traffic comes to a standstill. The emergency vehicles rush past them on the shoulder, the sirens almost deafening in their proximity.</p><p>“Both of my parents are dead,” Logan offers softly. “I’m using my inheritance to transplant my life to New York City and pursue a career in journalism. I too have worked my ass off for this and was offered an internship with <em>The Times</em>. I expect to be making coffee runs more than getting a chance to write anything, but it’s a foot in the door.”</p><p>“Is that your whole life story?” she asks, matching his tone of voice.</p><p>“The equivalent of what you’ve told me.”</p><p>The traffic crawls forward a few feet and then stops again.</p><p>“Do you need a fresh start as badly as I do?” Veronica asks.</p><p>Logan nods. “Yeah, I think I do.”</p><p>They fall into another silence until the accident is cleared and they start to move forward again.</p><p>“Do you know anyone in the city?” she asks, looking back over at him.</p><p>“Not a soul.”</p><p>“Yeah, neither do I.”</p><p>“You still didn’t answer my question, you know,” Logan tells her. “Why New York? Did you apply to other law schools?”</p><p>“Yeah, I did. There was just something about Columbia though. It spoke to me. And when they offered me the scholarship, I was pretty much sold. And it’s a nice bonus that it’s so far away from my regular life. Just sucks to be leaving my dad and Mac behind.”</p><p>“The only bright spots in your life, huh?”</p><p>“You could say that.”</p><p>“Well, here’s to new adventures and finding new bright spots in your life,” Logan offers, looking over his shoulder before he changes lanes.</p><p>“Did you just make a toast without actually having a drink in hand?”</p><p>“Was that an objection, your honor?”</p><p>She rolls her eyes but laughs anyway. Okay so, maybe the next few days won’t be <em>completely</em> miserable after all.</p><hr/><p>They’ve only made it as far as Albuquerque, New Mexico before Logan starts insisting they eat somewhere that isn’t a drive-thru. This goes entirely against her original plan of not stopping, but she has to admit after 12 straight hours in the car, it would be nice to get out of it for a bit. He pulls into a parking lot for a restaurant with a red neon sign reading Range Café. Underneath in blue neon it boasts to serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. It looks normal enough from the outside.</p><p>The interior décor, however, is something else. Fake rainbow balloons dangle from the ceiling dispersed amongst fake clouds. Random animal sculptures hang from the balloons ranging from a raccoon to a bullfrog. A large sculpture of a man in a chef’s uniform complete with the hat and a spatula, also hangs from the ceiling, running from some bulls sprouting out from a wall painted in rainbow cacti. Beneath the chase scene are several small chalk boards touting the daily specials and the beers on tap.</p><p>The barstools look like they’re made entirely out of tree branches, and more branches decorate the shelves holding all of the liquor bottles. Off to the side a dalmatian sculpture chases after a horse. A display case shows off various pies, cakes, and cheesecakes. She can feel her stomach growling at just the sight.</p><p>“What did you get us into, Echolls?” she asks, as a waitress dressed in a grey t-shirt with the same neon logo as the exterior screen printed on it approaches them.</p><p>“Wonderland,” he smirks, eyeing the display case of sweets. “Just maybe without the drugs.”</p><p>“<em>Maybe</em> without them?”</p><p>They’re given a table and look over the menu. She orders a burger and he gets chorizo tacos, both of them continuing to eye the desserts.</p><p>“There’s a Best Western just across the freeway from here,” Logan says, unwrapping his straw from the paper wrapper. “We can crash there for the night.”</p><p>“I’m sorry, what?” Veronica asks. “That wasn’t the plan. We were supposed to drive the whole way in shifts, not waste more money on hotels.”</p><p>“It’s a Best Western, Ronnie, not the Plaza Hotel. We can afford it. And besides it’s not like either of us slept enough on the drive to New Mexico to get us through driving all night.”</p><p>“But –”</p><p>“Relax, we can get separate rooms. Unless, you know, you wanted to <em>share</em> a room. I’m not entirely opposed to the idea.”</p><p>She points her straw, which she only has halfway out of the wrapper, at him. “Are you hitting on me?”</p><p>“That depends, is it working?”</p><p>“No, jackass it’s not.” She manages to get the rest of the paper off of her straw and shoves it into her water. “Besides we’re…just friends.”</p><p>Logan snorts. “No, we’re not.”</p><p>“Oh no?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. “I’m an acceptable option for sex, but not for friendship?”</p><p>He shakes his head. “Men and women can’t be friends because the <em>sex</em> always gets in the way.”</p><p>“I already told you I’m not sleeping with you, so look! Nothing to get in the way!”</p><p>“You do know how often guys think about sex, right? If we try to stay friends after this, be that whole ‘the only other person I know in New York’ for each other, we’re going to sleep together eventually. It’s science. Happens in every romantic comedy and every cheesy romance novel.”</p><p>“This is real life, not fiction.”</p><p>“Ronnie, what do you think fiction is based off of?”</p><p>She huffs, rolling her eyes. “I don’t buy it.”</p><p>“Which part?”</p><p>“All of it.”</p><p>The waitress returns to their table with their food.</p><p>“Okay, but think about it,” Logan starts, moving to unwrap his silverware from the napkin they’re encased in. “Do you have close relationships with any guys?”</p><p>“Well, I –” she hesitates, her brain suddenly blanking on the names of anyone she’s ever hung out with.</p><p>“That hesitation is a no. Point, Logan.”</p><p>“Oh we’re keeping score?” she asks, shaking the ketchup bottle with more force than necessary out of her frustration with him. “Did you ever sleep with Mac?”</p><p>“God no,” he answers, coughing around his bite of food. “She’s like a sister to me.”</p><p>“But she’s a woman who is <em>not</em> your sister by blood <em>or</em> marriage. She’s your female friend. Point, Veronica.”</p><p>“Mac doesn’t count,” he says, shaking his head.</p><p>“Is she or is she not your friend?” Veronica asks.</p><p>“Well she is –”</p><p>She points a fry at him. “You have a female friend and sex didn’t get in the way of that relationship. This debunks your entire theory.”</p><p>“Okay but,” he starts around a mouthful of food. He finishes his bite before continuing. “There are exceptions to every rule.”</p><p>“<em>Every rule</em>? What about gravity?”</p><p>He shrugs. “Outer space.”</p><p>She glares at him.</p><p>“Come on,” Logan laughs. “You’re going to be a lawyer. Your whole job is about finding the exception to the rule so your client can walk away free.”</p><p>“So, then you acknowledge it? There are exceptions to this hard and fast rule of yours that women and men can’t be friends?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“But you don’t want to make me an exception to that rule because you’re attracted to me and want to get into my pants.”</p><p>He hesitates. “…wait.”</p><p>“No further questions. The prosecution rests.”</p><p>He stares at her in disbelief, watching as she smirks around her bite of burger.</p><p>“You’re unbelievable,” Logan tells her, picking up another one of his tacos.</p><p>“I know,” she responds, imitating flipping her hair over her shoulder.</p><p>“I’m already afraid to be your trial witness, and you don’t even have the law degree yet.”</p><p>She keeps smirking at him. “Like I said, Dad’s the sheriff. I grew up around this stuff.”</p><p>“What, he dragged you to court with him?”</p><p>“Sometimes,” she shrugs. “My mother wasn’t always…available.”</p><p>“What does that mean?” Logan asks, reaching for his water glass.</p><p>“Look, no offense, but I don’t know you well enough to get into this. We’re not even <em>friends</em>, remember?”  </p><p>“I had shitty parents too, you know. I get it.”</p><p>Veronica shakes her head. “I’m not talking about this. Do you want to get dessert to go or eat it here? I’ve noticed you eyeing that cheesecake.”</p><p>He stares at her for a moment, like he doesn’t quite want to let the thing about her mom go. But he concedes, picking at the chorizo on his plate that slipped out of its taco shell.</p><p>“We can get it to go,” he says. “I’m sure you’re just itching for some alone time.”</p><p>She raises an eyebrow at him.</p><p>“Wow, not like that! And here I thought <em>I</em> was the one with the dirty mind.”</p><p>“What?” she asks before catching on. “No, god, that’s not – you <em>are</em> the one with the dirty mind. I was not thinking about that <em>at all</em>.”</p><p>“You are now though, huh?” he asks, waggling his eyebrows.</p><p>“Shut up.”</p><p>The waitress returns to their table and they both order a slice of cheesecake to go. After they pay and get their dessert boxes, Logan drives them down the road to the Best Western. He goes on inside to inquire about rooms, while she digs around through her belongings for overnight essentials. He comes back out around 15 minutes later, his hands tucked into his back pockets and an almost nervous expression on his face.</p><p>“You’re not going to like this,” he starts slowly.</p><p>“I’m not going to like what exactly?” she asks, already starting to feel dread forming in the pit of her stomach.</p><p>“They only have one room available,” Logan replies, wincing.</p><p>She groans, heaving the bag of her overnight supplies higher up on her shoulder. “Well that’s what you get for changing my plans last minute. Whatever it’s fine. It’s one night, we can make do.”</p><p>He starts to say something else, but apparently decides against it and starts digging around in the back of the Xterra for his own stuff for the night. Once he’s satisfied with his supplies, Logan leads them back inside to room 107. He slides the keycard into the door and pushes it open.</p><p>There’s only one bed.</p><p>“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Veronica mutters under her breath.</p><p>“I told you, you weren’t going to like it.”</p><p>“You <em>knew</em>? They told you this room only had one bed and you accepted it anyway? I’m not doing this. <em>We’re</em> not doing this.” She crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head.</p><p>“You’re not sleeping in the car. We’re right off the interstate, it’s a terrible idea.”</p><p>“This isn’t happening,” she huffs, hoisting her bag higher up on her shoulder again.</p><p>“Will you relax? I’m not going to try and seduce you or anything. We can be two adults sleeping on opposite sides of a queen bed for one night. We’ll survive.”</p><p>“Just for this, we’re not stopping again,” Veronica pouts, brushing past him into the room and claiming a side of the bed.</p><p>“There’s nearly 31 hours left to drive are you insane?” Logan asks, closing the door behind her and slipping the lock into place. “At least let us stop in…I don’t know Tennessee seems like a decent halfway point.”</p><p>“Sleep in the car,” she says flippantly, pulling out her slice of cheesecake and opening the lid on the container.  </p><p>“You’ve known me for what, 14, 15 hours? Am I really that awful to be around?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>He sits down the other side of the bed, pulling out his slice of dessert. “Then what is it? Afraid you’ll finally cave and sleep with me if we end up forced to share a bed for a second night?”</p><p>She doesn’t answer him right away, all too aware of the way he’s watching her lick the cheesecake off her plastic spoon. Maybe both of their minds are in the gutter at this point.</p><p>“I just want to get to New York as soon as possible, that’s all.”</p><p>“If you think your life is going to magically start the second we cross the state border, you have completely unrealistic expectations of this city,” Logan tells her.</p><p>“No, it’s not about that. I know it’s just another city.”</p><p>“Cross-country road trip with an attractive stranger not enough adventure for you?”</p><p>She rolls her eyes and chucks the discarded plastic wrapper from her spoon at him. “Well you’ve made it clear our little adventure ends the moment we get to New York.”</p><p>“So, you’re trying to get rid of me?”</p><p>“Honest truth?”</p><p>He sets his half-eaten cheesecake onto the bedside table and leans back against the headboard and mountain of too soft pillows, lacing his hands behind his head. “Hit me.”</p><p>Veronica exhales, dropping her spoon into the takeout container. “I <em>do</em> think you’re attractive. And maybe if we’d met under different circumstances, I’d give you a chance. But you’re lying to your girlfriend, sorry your ex-girlfriend who doesn’t know she’s your ex-girlfriend, giving her this false hope that the distance won’t matter. You think that every girl, besides Mac, who is even somewhat friendly toward you wants to sleep with you. You keep calling me by a nickname I hate. You took one look at me and thought you had my entire life figured out. And you weren’t right about any of it. If I keep spending time with you, I’m worried all of that will matter less and less. And I kind of enjoy this mutual hate thing we’ve got going for us. It would be a crying shame if we actually became friends.”</p><p>Logan stares at her for a long moment, watching her finish off the rest of her cheesecake.</p><p>“No, you know what, Ronnie? You don’t want to be friends. You want to be lovers. That kind of impassioned speech? The following scene is where they make out.”</p><p>“Are you sure you’re a journalist and not Nora Ephron?”</p><p>He shoots her a look and picks his dessert back up to finish it off. “Laugh all you want. You’ll see that I’m right someday.”</p><p>“You’ve got two days to prove your point, Echolls. NYC is a big city with lots of people.”</p><p>“Ye of little faith, Veronica. You’ll see.”</p><hr/><p>When Logan wakes up the next morning, he discovers that somehow, in the middle of the night, they wound up in this ‘big spoon, little spoon’ position. Her back is pressed against his chest and his arm is draped over her torso. He can smell the soft fragrance from her shampoo as her long hair is now spread out mostly on his pillow. It smells nice. Kind of reminds him of marshmallows.</p><p>She shifts in her sleep, her back arching a little a she stretches, her ass pressing right into his –</p><p>“Oh my god!”</p><p>Now she’s up.</p><p>He watches her scoot away from him giving him an accusatory glare.</p><p>“What the hell is that?” she demands.</p><p>“It’s the morning,” he sighs. “If you need more of an explanation than that, I’m going to have to return to my previous theory that you’ve never had sex.”</p><p>“No, I know – why were you spooning me?”</p><p>“Who said I initiated it? Maybe you’re the one who wanted to get all warm and snuggly <em>with me</em>.”</p><p>“As if,” she scoffs, scooting herself out of the bed so she’s standing.</p><p>“Ohhh how very 90s of you,” he calls after her as she disappears into the bathroom.</p><p>He groans, scrubbing his hands over his face and shaking his head at his pathetic comeback to her pathetic comeback. They really are quite the pair, aren’t they?</p><p>About 20 minutes later, after he’s dozed off again, she reemerges from the bathroom ready to go and starts making an obnoxious amount of noise re-packing her bag.</p><p>“Come on, get up, time to go,” she tells him.</p><p>“Are you always this much of a morning person?” he winces. “Or are you just avoiding the manner in which you woke up this morning by acting this perky?”</p><p>“I’ve always received straight A’s in avoidance. Now come on, Sleeping Beauty, I’ll drive the first shift. Let’s go.”</p><p>She pulls on the shirt hanging out of his bag and tosses it at him. Logan groans, dragging the shirt across his lap as he sits up.</p><p>“You’re starting to see my point already, aren’t you?” he asks. “That you want to be more than friends and it’s scaring you.”</p><p>“I think you’re delusional. And that I’m leaving in 30 minutes whether you’re ready or not.”</p><p>“It’s <em>my</em> car,” he protests.</p><p>“Guess you better get a move on then.”</p><p>Logan grumbles, pushing back the covers and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “You know what? Maybe you’re right. The sooner we get to New York, the better.”</p><p>“I knew you’d tire of me eventually.”</p><p>He starts to head toward the bathroom but decides to mess with her one last time first. He walks back toward her, standing uncomfortably close. “You can be as annoying as you want, Ronnie. I still find you attractive.”</p><hr/><p>He sleeps through the drive through the rest of New Mexico and wakes up again once they’re in Texas. At least, he thinks they’re in Texas, judging by the road sign he just saw claiming the next exit for the next big interstate exchange will lead you toward Dallas. Veronica has the music turned down low, likely for his benefit, but it’s still loud enough that she can hear it because she’s humming along with the melody. It’s not a song he recognizes.</p><p>“So, have you learned the truth yet?” Logan asks with a yawn, stretching his arms overhead. “Is it true what they say?”</p><p>She glances over at him, almost as though she’s startled to hear him awake and talking, before turning her gaze back to the road. “The truth about what?”</p><p>“Is everything bigger in Texas?”</p><p>She snorts. “Haven’t seen enough of it to know the answer.”</p><p>“All these long stretches of highway and there’s nothing to see. I’m almost surprised commercial American hasn’t snagged the opportunity to advertise with obnoxious billboards.”</p><p>“I figure the good old-fashioned road trip died when airplanes became popular. Why spend multiple days driving to your destination when you can arrive same day via air?”</p><p>“Because you’re moving across the country and your car doesn’t fit the weight requirements for a checked bag?”</p><p>This time she groans. “What are you going to do with this thing in New York, anyway? People will mistake you for a cab and constantly try to flag you down for a ride and then flip you off when you don’t stop.”</p><p>“I probably won’t drive it much, but I love this car. I wasn’t just going to leave it in California.”</p><p>“So, you’re bringing it out here just to waste money by paying to park it for months on end? How big is this inheritance of yours?”</p><p>If she hasn’t figured it out by now that his parents are the late movie stars Aaron and Lynn Echolls, he certainly isn’t going to tell her. He enjoys the anonymity of not being seen simply as the son of celebrities for once. And even though his internship at <em>The Times</em> has nothing to do with them, he worries she’ll think he only got the job because of his parents’ status. And for some reason, it’s important to him to prove himself to her.</p><p>“Big enough,” is all he says by way of response.</p><p>She lets it slide, segueing the conversation into all of the dessert-focused restaurants she’s read about in NYC. They get stuck on the topic of food for long enough that they’re forced to stop at a lone Subway inside a gas station to fuel their hunger. She falls asleep on the next leg of their journey as he takes over at the wheel and wakes back up when they’re somewhere in Arkansas.</p><p>Veronica yawns she rubs at her eyes. “So, what’s the verdict? Are you forcing me to stop in Tennessee or are we powering through?”</p><p>“We’re still four hours from Tennessee,” Logan tells her. “I think making another stop for the night is warranted.”</p><p>“We’re not settling on the first hotel or motel we find this time if there’s only one bed again.”</p><p>“And here I thought after these long hours in the car together, you’d be more than happy to spoon with me again.”</p><p>“What part of me avoiding this topic this morning means I want to discuss it now?”</p><p>Logan glances over at her. “The part where it’s written all over your face.”</p><p>“It is not!” she protests, the way the pitch of her voice rises giving way to her lie.</p><p>“Stop lying to yourself to prove a point, Ronnie. You’re allowed to want me. We can get it out of our systems before we get to New York and part ways to never see each other again.”</p><p>“What part of I’m not interested aren’t you comprehending?” she asks.</p><p>“The part where I don’t believe you.”</p><p>“Look, I don’t know what kind of person you think I am, but I don’t sleep with guys I’ve just met. The whole one-night stand thing? It isn’t for me. I already told you that I’m not denying that I find you attractive. But you want to be done with me after this little road trip is over and this monstrosity of a vehicle is parked in a monthly garage somewhere. Tease me all you want, Logan. It’s never going to happen.”</p><p>He’s quiet for a moment, letting the radio advertisement for a psychic hotline fill the silence.</p><p>“Want to bet on it?” he asks when the music returns to the airwaves.</p><p>“Bet on me having sex with you tonight?</p><p>“No, not tonight. In the future. When we inevitably run into each other again in New York.”</p><p>“Suddenly you believe in serendipity?”</p><p>“What, a guy can’t be a cynic and a romantic?”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure that’s how that works, yeah. Two separate views.”</p><p>He drums his fingers against the steering wheel. “Call it whatever you want, but I bet you we run into each again, and at that point I won’t be a stranger anymore. You’ll finally cave and act on your attraction to me.”</p><p>She hums. “What are we betting? Money? Pride? Gloating rights?”</p><p>“I was thinking pride and gloating rights would be enough, but if you want to put money on it…you good with $100?”</p><p>“So, future me would have to pay $100 to have sex with you? That’s prostitution.”</p><p>“Calm down, Columbia Law. Serendipity has to work in my favor first.”</p><p>Veronica sighs, thinking over his proposition. “All right, fine. Future me just got $100 richer.”</p><p>“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Ronnie.”</p><hr/><p>They spend the night at a Holiday Inn in Memphis in separate rooms. They drive the remaining 16 hours to New York City, alternating between napping and small talk. She learns he has a half-sister. He learns she’s an only child unless you count their family dog. They both have a sweet tooth and an affinity for Italian food. They share stories about Mac, and promise she’ll never find out about the stories they’ve spilled.</p><p>Logan pulls up to her new apartment, and even helps her carry her belongings upstairs. He extends his hand in offering a handshake before he turns to leave.</p><p>“Until we meet again, Veronica Mars.”</p><p>“Well, would you look at that,” she says, shaking his hand. “You <em>do</em> know my name.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>~Five Years Later~</em>
</p><p>Veronica stands at the bottom of the escalators that will take her up to her gate to catch her flight, unwilling to stop kissing him.</p><p>“Are you sure this trip is necessary?” he asks, pulling away from her ever so slightly.</p><p>“Babe, you know it is. This is a huge case, and the partners are trusting me to meet with the client in person.”</p><p>“Why doesn’t the client just come to your law firm right here in New York?”</p><p>“That’s not what he’s paying us for.”</p><p>He huffs and she stretches up to kiss him again. “It’s only for a week.”</p><p>“I know,” he sighs. “But you’re going to miss my birthday.”</p><p>She kisses him again. “I promise to make it up to you when I get back.”</p><p>“Duncan? Duncan Kane?”</p><p>Veronica recognizes the voice, but she’s having trouble placing it. Where has she heard that before?</p><p>“Logan Echolls? What’s it been man, like eight years?”</p><p>Oh no. No, no, no, no.</p><p>She stands and watches in horror as her boyfriend greets the jackass she road tripped here with nearly five years ago. Of course they know each other. Serendipity can go fuck itself.</p><p>“Veronica, this is my friend Logan. We went to high school together. He dated my sister for a while.”</p><p>Manhattan may as well be the size of Neptune at this point. She can’t believe this. It’s too much.</p><p>Logan gives her a little wave and she already wants to smack that stupid smirk right off his face. God, he really hasn’t changed, has he? Five years and he’s just as arrogant and –</p><p>“Nice to meet you,” he says by way of greeting.</p><p>She gawks at him. He doesn’t remember her? No way in hell. She’s getting her $100 from him fair and square. Just because he read her wrong five years ago doesn’t mean he suddenly gets to back out of this. A bet’s a bet.</p><p>“I’ll let you get going,” Duncan says, resting his hand on the small of her back. “Call me when you land.”</p><p>She looks up at him and then back at Logan, still confused.</p><p>“And you,” Duncan starts, pointing at Logan. “Call me when you get back into town. We should catch up.”</p><p>“Yeah, you got it,” Logan tells him. “I’d love to hear all about the current life and times of Lilly Kane.”</p><p>Duncan groans followed by laughter. “Still as much of a loose cannon as she ever was.”</p><p>Logan starts laughing too. “Yeah, I bet. See you around, man. Nice meeting you, Veronica.”</p><p>She stares after him in disbelief as he steps onto the escalator and disappears into the concourse upstairs.</p><p>“Something wrong?” Duncan asks her.</p><p>“I – he’s the friend of Mac’s I drove to New York with and he acted like he’d never seen me before in his life. Wait, if you went to high school with Logan, you went to high school with Mac too. Why have you never said anything?”</p><p>“Mac, Mac,” he repeats her name and scratches his chin like he’s trying to rack his brain for the answer. “Oh wait, Cindy Mackenzie?”</p><p>“I – yeah, but no one calls her Cindy.”</p><p>“Huh, didn’t realize you two were friends.”</p><p>“There’s literally a picture of the two of us on my fridge.”</p><p>Duncan shrugs. “She must have changed her hair. Anyway, have a safe flight, babe!”</p><p>He kisses her on the cheek and turns and waves goodbye. She’s left still standing at the foot of the escalators wondering what the hell just happened.</p>
<hr/><p>This could not get any worse. Truly, the universe is having a big ‘ol laugh right about now. Logan Echolls has the assigned seat right next to her on this flight. A disaster, a complete and utter disaster.</p><p>“So, what do you say, Ronnie? Want to join the mile-high club?” he asks once she settles into her seat.</p><p>“Son-of-a-bitch,” she curses, slapping his arm. “You <em>do</em> remember me!”</p><p>“You’re not easy to forget.”</p><p>“So then what was with the clueless routine with Duncan back there?”</p><p>Logan shrugs. “We have a history. I thought it was better if he didn’t know.”</p><p>“We spent three days in a car together and one night in a shared bed where nothing happened. What kind of scandalous history is that?”</p><p>“I mean there <em>was</em> spooning involved. And Duncan is a gentle creature, he might not have been able to accept that.”</p><p>“You’re unbelievable,” she groans.</p><p>“That’s what all the girls say,” Logan says with a wink. “Especially when I’m on top.”</p><p>“I – I don’t even know how to dignify that with a response.”</p><p>“I know, I know, you still want me. Unfortunately, I’m now taken. So, just hand over your $100 and we’ll call it even.”</p><p>“How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t want to have sex with you before it actually sticks?”</p><p>The flight attendants start moving around the cabin to prepare for takeoff. One of them stands at the front and demonstrates how to properly fasten your seatbelt.</p><p>“So, the Donut really does it for you, huh? You getting married?”</p><p>She shoots him a look. “The Donut? You mean Duncan? We’ve only been together a month.”</p><p>He nods, humming. “Have you slept with him yet?”</p><p>“What is your obsession with my sex life? Didn’t you just tell me you’re taken, anyway?”</p><p>“I’m just checking in on my other theory that relationships can’t survive without sex,” he shrugs. “But yes, I’m engaged. The wedding’s in three months.”</p><p>“You’re getting <em>married</em>?”</p><p>“Why is that so hard to believe? I’m part romantic, remember?”</p><p>“Does your fiancée know you hit on other women when she’s not around?”</p><p>“I’m not hitting on you.”</p><p>“You asked me to join the mile-high club with you,” she reminds him.</p><p>“No, I asked if <em>you</em> wanted to. I’m just trying to win my $100 over here.”</p><p>“You’re insufferable. This woman marrying you must be some kind of saint.”</p><p>He gets a goofy grin on his face, thinking about her. “Carrie’s incredible.”</p><p>She softens a little bit. “If you’re so smitten, then why put so much energy into harassing me?”</p><p>“Because it’s so easy to get under your skin, Veronica. It’s fun. Like a little game. Are you this easily irritable in the courtroom?”</p><p>She truly doesn’t know what it is about him that irritates her so much. She is <em>not</em> like this in court. She’s a bit of a shark, actually. That’s why the partners at her law firm are sending <em>her</em> to meet this client and not her male colleague who had been <em>so</em> certain he’d get picked for this job. But one look at Echolls’s smug face and she somehow manages to lose all of her composure. He better not <em>ever</em> end up on her witness list.</p><p>“I’m actually quite excellent at my job thank you for asking,” she tells him. “This is a work trip as a matter of fact. I’m flying out to meet with a client. What about you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen your name appear on any of the articles in <em>The New York Times</em>.”</p><p>He holds a hand up to his chest. “Aww, you’ve been keeping an eye out for me that’s so precious.”</p><p>The pilot comes over the speakers to announce that they’re ready for takeoff and the plane starts to drive down the runway.</p><p>“But uh, yeah no, you wouldn’t have, I don’t work for <em>The Times</em> anymore. I write for the <em>New York Daily News </em>now.”</p><p>“That by choice?” she asks.</p><p>Logan shrugs. “They didn’t hire me past my internship. The <em>Daily </em>did.”</p><p>“What do you write for them?”</p><p>“Opinion pieces, mostly.”</p><p>“Well that’s not surprising, I bet you have a lot of them.”</p><p>“Articles?”</p><p>“Opinions.”</p><p>He laughs as the plane lifts into the air. “What about you? You helping the underdogs in the justice system like you wanted to?”</p><p>Right. She’d had that dream once. Before she became this sellout. It was that damn competitive nature of hers. Breaking her way into the all-boys club at her law firm had been part of the challenging appeal.</p><p>“Sadly no,” she tells him. “Maybe later in life when I can afford pro bono work.”</p><p>The plane rises into the clouds and she wonders if he plans to talk to her this whole flight. She brought work to do, hoping she could finish writing this deposition while in the air so she wouldn’t have to do it later tonight.</p><p>“You hear from Mac at all lately?” Logan asks.</p><p>“Yeah, I just spoke with her last week. Some huge software company snatched her up. That girl is too smart for her own good.”</p><p>“Don’t I know it,” he laughs.</p><p>“Are you still storing that yellow eyesore of a car somewhere?” she asks.</p><p>He laughs again, shaking his head. “Nah, sold it about a year after I moved out here. As much as it pains me to say it, you were right. Paying for monthly parking when I wasn’t even using it was not worth the hassle.”</p><p>“I’m sorry, can you say that again? The part about me being right?”</p><p>He shoots her a look but acquiesces. “You were right, Veronica.”</p><p>“Ah, music to my ears.”</p><p>The fasten seatbelt sign turns off and the flight attendants start making their rounds to take drink orders.</p><p>“So, how’d you meet Carrie?” Veronica asks, wanting to know where this woman who made him want to settle down came from.</p><p>“It’s the cheesiest story ever,” he starts. “I was writing a piece on mom and pop shops being run out of business by big chains, and she was one of the small business owners I interviewed. It was an instant connection and we’ve been together ever since.”</p><p>“Wow, how very cliché of you.”</p><p>“Okay, Miss Judgmental, how did you and Duncan meet?”</p><p>“Through work friends.”</p><p>“Boring,” he says, faking a yawn.</p><p>“I believe normal is the word you’re looking for.”</p><p>The flight attendant stops at their row offering them pretzels and asking them if they want anything to drink.</p><p>“Why would you want normal when you could have fireworks?”</p><p>She looks over at him, realizing for the first time the way the color of his eyes reminds her of hot chocolate. She shakes her head against the thought.</p><p>“Fireworks?” she asks. “Care to clarify?”</p><p>“You know. That spark. The way being around that person just makes you come alive.”</p><p>Veronica shakes her head. “I’m not sure that I know that feeling. Carrie does that for you?”</p><p>He nods. “Yeah. That’s why I asked her to marry me.”</p><p>“Well look at you, becoming a grown man when I wasn’t looking.”</p><p>“So, uh, no sparks with Duncan then, huh?”</p><p>She shrugs, casting her gaze to the floor across the aisle where a zebra printed carry-on threatens to trip the next person who walks past. “It’s still new.”</p><p>“It’s been a month.”</p><p>She whips her head to look back over at him. “Did I ask for your relationship advice?”</p><p>“How long do you like to be held after sex?”</p><p>She gapes at him. “And what does that have to do with anything?”</p><p>“Humor me.”</p><p>“What are you? An online personality quiz? Did your journalism degree come with a psychology minor?”</p><p>“Just answer the question, Ronnie. We’ve got another two hours before this plane lands in Chicago.”</p><p>Veronica huffs, leaning back in her seat and staring up at the call button. Any chance the flight attendants would let her change seats to get away from him? She can’t believe she’s really about to get into this right now with <em>Logan</em> no less.</p><p>“I don’t,” she says quietly.</p><p>“Don’t what?”</p><p>“Like to be held after,” she grits out.</p><p>“You’re not a normal girl, are you?”</p><p>“You’re just figuring that out?”</p><p>He’s finally, blissfully, quiet for a moment. But just as she reaches forward to grab her laptop out from her bag under the seat in front of her, he starts talking again.</p><p>“Duncan’s like a giant teddy bear. He’s very cuddly. Might even say he prides himself on that being the best part. But if you’re not into that, there’s not going to be a spark. You’re not going to get the fireworks you deserve.”</p><p>She crosses her arms over her chest, turning to look at him again. “I like him. Give it time.”</p><p>“Carrie and I didn’t need time.”</p><p>“Well, sorry we’re not all as blessed as you are. Now, do you think you could butt out of my love life long enough for me to get some work done on this deposition I have to write?”</p><p>“Clearly, I don’t have the big shiny law degree you do, but if you’re going to visit your client in person, why do you have to have a written deposition ready for him?”</p><p>“This isn’t for my Chicago client, it’s for another case.”</p><p>“How many cases are you working at once?”</p><p>“Currently? Only three.”</p><p>“<em>Only </em>three? Do you do anything besides work and make out with your boyfriend in airports?”</p><p>She groans, reaching forward to grab her laptop anyway. “You try being a woman in a male-dominated office place. If I don’t work my ass off to stay ahead, they’ll stop taking me seriously. I have a life outside of work, but until I’ve been out of law school for longer than I have, this is where I’m at.”</p><p>“You could, oh I don’t know, get a new job? At a new law firm? Female lawyers do exist, you know.”</p><p>“You clearly haven’t picked up on my driven, competitive nature yet,” she says, powering on her laptop. “I don’t just want any job. I want <em>the</em> job. I’d be the first female partner at this law firm if things go my way. And they’ve been in business since the ‘60s.”</p><p>“Oh no, I’ve definitely picked up on it,” Logan says with a laugh. “I’m just trying to remind you that there’s more to life. When I first met you, you were going on and on about waiting for your life to start. I didn’t realize that meant tackling the patriarchy.”</p><p>“Back then it didn’t,” she says softly, scrolling through her files to find the document she’s already started.</p><p>“What changed?”</p><p>Veronica lets out a long sigh, knowing fully how ridiculous this is going to sound until he lets her explain. “Have you ever seen Legally Blonde?”</p><p>Logan snorts. “You may be blonde and a California girl, but I’d hardly compare you to Elle Woods.”</p><p>“No, I’m not – her professor? Callahan? The one who gave her the internship because of her looks and tried to hit on her? I had a professor like that at Columbia. Basically a copy paste and I was just as blind to it at first as she was. When I went to his office hours for advice on applying to law firms, he tried to feel me up. When I slapped him in response, he told me that he would make sure that I never made partner at any of the prominent law firms in New York City because he knew people and they listened to him. I’ve been on a mission to prove him wrong ever since.”</p><p>“Badass Veronica Mars doesn’t take crap from anyone, huh?”</p><p>She laughs a little. “Something like that. And I’m telling you this as a…are we considered friends now that you’re off the market? Not as a journalist. So, I better not see any articles in the <em>Daily</em> about sexist pigs at Columbia. I’ve got enough to deal with right now.”</p><p>He places his hand on her forearm in an apologetic gesture. “On behalf of my gender, I apologize. I’ll stop teasing you too. I’m sorry.”</p><p>She looks over at him, thinking about hot chocolate again as she stares into his eyes. “You irritate me, yes, but you’re not on his sleazy level. And maybe I enjoy our little banter game too.”</p><p>He smiles at her, and wow okay she really likes it when he smiles, before he takes his hand off of her arm and sits back against his seat.  </p><p>“I still don’t think we can be friends,” Logan tells her.</p><p>“And why’s that?”</p><p>“Not to sound like an arrogant ass, but you still have a thing for me.”</p><p>She laughs, shaking her head. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Logan.”</p><p>“Is that a confession then? Did I just win $100?”</p><p>“To be continued,” she shrugs.</p><p>“What? You can’t just extend a bet, because you’ve lost.”</p><p>“Who said I lost?”</p><p>“You just did, by wanting to push off the result until next time. Who even knows if there will be a next time?”</p><p>“Serendipity, baby,” Veronica smirks.</p><p>“A hot shot lawyer like yourself doesn’t have the cash to pay a starving journalist like me?”</p><p>“Are you starving though? Really? I know who your parents were, Echolls. I can’t imagine your inheritance was anything short of a small fortune.”</p><p>Logan hums. “You Googled me.”</p><p>She shakes her head. “Didn’t have to. I recognized your last name immediately.”</p><p>“You knew five years ago? And you didn’t say anything?”</p><p>She shrugs. “Why would I?”</p><p>She catches the amusement dancing in his eyes.</p><p>“You really aren’t like all of the other girls, are you?”</p><p>Veronica flashes him a smirk. “And you could have me as a friend, but you won’t accept my offer.”</p><p>“I’m engaged.”</p><p>“I’m not offering to date you. They’re different things in my book, even if they aren’t in yours.”</p><p>He holds her gaze for a moment, only looking away when the flight attendant stops by asking if they have any trash they would like to throw away.</p><p>“You never told me,” Veronica starts again after she leaves. “Why are you going to Chicago?”</p><p>“I’m not,” he tells her. “Just a layover. I’m going home to California. My half-sister, who I so graciously let have my parents’ estate after I moved out to New York, has decided suddenly that she wants to get rid of a bunch of their crap. I’m going out to see if I want any of it before she sells it.”</p><p>“She’s been living out there all this time, and she just now wants to go through everything?”</p><p>He shrugs. “Her new boyfriend is on this minimalist living kick.”</p><p>“Okay, but the house must be –”</p><p>“I don’t get it either,” he says, cutting her off. “I’ve found sometimes it’s just better not to ask questions when it comes to Trina.”</p><p>She nods in understanding. “Logan, can I ask you something? About us?”</p><p>“There’s an us?”</p><p>She ignores his comment and keeps talking. “You always seem so determined to figure me out: what makes me tick, how I operate. You want to know what my relationships are like. But you don’t want anything more than these chance encounters. Why is that?”</p><p>“Because you go for guys like Duncan.”</p><p>She looks over at him, confused. Watches the way he avoids her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”</p><p>The flight attendants start telling everyone to put away their larger electronic devices to prepare for landing, and she groans at not having gotten any work done.</p><p>“You’ll figure it out,” Logan tells her. “And I expect my $100 in winnings when you do.”</p><p>They’re mostly quiet for the remainder of the flight and they part ways once they land at O’Hare. He heads off to find his next gate and she heads out toward baggage claim. While she watches the luggage rotate around the baggage carousel, she keeps replaying his words to her in her head.</p><p>
  <em>Because you go for guys like Duncan. </em>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Why would you want normal when you could have fireworks?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The way just being around that person makes you feel alive.</em>
</p><p>She’s never felt alive being around anyone before. Well maybe, except for Logan.</p><p>Oh god.</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>
  <em>Shit.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>~Five years later~</em>
</p>
<p>“Jackie, I don’t need a new hobby,” Veronica complains, begrudgingly following her friend into the bookstore.</p>
<p>“Yes, you do,” Jackie tells her. “All you do is work now that you and Duncan broke up. That was supposed to change once you made partner.”</p>
<p>“I <em>just</em> made partner,” Veronica reminds her. “My caseload doesn’t immediately go away. I have to make sure everything I was working on gets distributed to the right associates before I –”</p>
<p>“I know, I know,” Jackie groans. “I’ve heard this speech before. Which is exactly why we need to find you a new hobby. Your entire life is not your work.”</p>
<p>“God, where have I heard that before?” she grumbles.</p>
<p>Jackie shoots her a look before leading her down one of the aisles. “What about cooking?”</p>
<p>“What, you want me to be the next Iron Chef or something? Pass.”</p>
<p>This earns her another look from her friend. “Okay, what about…crochet?”</p>
<p>“You think I have the patience for that?”</p>
<p>“Veronica, I’m trying, okay? You’ve been in a funk ever since Duncan –”</p>
<p>“Please stop bringing him into this. I’m fine, okay? We wanted different things. It’s not like I ever got my fireworks, anyway.” She mumbles the last part, picking at the cuticle on her left thumb while she says it.</p>
<p>“Oh, he was bad in bed, huh?” Jackie asks, her tone sympathetic.</p>
<p>“No, it’s not a sex thing. It’s – forget it. Look, if I promise to start actually using my vacation days, can we stop this shopping for a hobby nonsense and just go grab lunch? I’m starving.”</p>
<p>“I’d say yes, but there’s a man over there who I’m pretty sure has had his eyes on you since we walked in. Not in a creepy way, he’s hot and checking you out, I think. Maybe a rebound guy could be your new hobby.”</p>
<p>“I don’t care if he’s hot, that’s still creepy.”</p>
<p>“See for yourself,” Jackie shrugs.</p>
<p>Veronica sighs and looks in the direction her friend is pointing. And there he is, peering at her over the top of some book with a blue and white cover. Serendipity strikes again.</p>
<p>“You make a terrible stalker,” she calls to him across the aisles.</p>
<p>“Veronica!” Jackie hisses, hitting her friend’s arm.</p>
<p>“Relax,” she laughs. “I know him.”</p>
<p>“You do?”</p>
<p>“It’s a long story,” she nods.</p>
<p>Okay, so maybe not that long. But Logan is – she doesn’t know. She’s never known. And that’s part of the problem.</p>
<p>Logan snaps the book closed he was trying to hide behind and saunters over to where they’re standing, still in the middle of an aisle surrounded by cookbooks.</p>
<p>“Well, of all the bookstores in all of New York City,” he whistles.</p>
<p>“You owe me one hundred bucks,” she says to him when he gets closer, earning her another confused look from Jackie.</p>
<p>“The day is young, Ronnie. Let’s not go jumping to any conclusions yet.”</p>
<p>Beside her, Jackie mouths the name “Ronnie” back to her, still looking utterly lost as to what’s happening here.</p>
<p>“I don’t sleep with married men,” she tells him, crossing her arms over her chest.</p>
<p>Logan laughs, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “That’s why you wanted to extend the bet. You knew all of the temptation would be gone.”</p>
<p>She shrugs, smirking at him. “I know how to my play cards right. Now pay up, Echolls.”</p>
<p>“You’re smart, Veronica. But there’s a little hitch in your gameplay.”</p>
<p>“Is there now?”</p>
<p>He clears his throat. “Carrie and I got divorced.”</p>
<p>Oh. <em>Oh</em>. Oh no. <em>Fuck</em>.</p>
<p>“How’s Duncan by the way?” he asks, when she’s silent.</p>
<p>She hesitates. “We broke up.”</p>
<p>She watches the expression that passes over his face, guessing she had on a similar look when he told her he was divorced just now.</p>
<p>“You know what?” Jackie starts. Veronica had nearly forgotten she was there. “I’m gonna go.”</p>
<p>“No, Jackie, wait,” Veronica tries to stop her.</p>
<p>Her friend pulls her aside. “Whatever this is,” she starts making a hand gesture back in Logan’s direction. “I think it’s something you need right now.”</p>
<p>“Please, you don’t even know what he –”</p>
<p>“I know that he’s attractive, single, seems like he’s into you, and that <em>you</em> need to take your mind off of both Duncan and work. I’ll catch up with you later. Right now, go enjoy his company and whatever else that entails,” she smirks, wiggling her eyebrows.</p>
<p>“Jackie,” she tries to protest again, but her friend is already headed out of the store.</p>
<p>She feels Logan’s presence at her back. Or rather she smells his cologne. The same scent he had on him during their flight to Chicago five years ago. The same scent from ten years ago even when she somehow found herself wrapped up in him in that queen bed…</p>
<p>“There’s a coffee shop around the corner,” he starts, his voice startling her out of her memories. “If you wanted to go and catch up. No pressure. Not like you’re stuck with me on another mode of transportation or anything.”</p>
<p>Four days. She’s known this man for four days out of her 32 years of life. And she can’t explain it, but she’s missed him. With his woodsy cologne and his hot chocolate brown eyes. With the way he constantly calls her that stupid name and makes inappropriate jokes and assumptions about her sex life.</p>
<p>But she’d realized it in Chicago, five years ago. He’s the fireworks in his own stupid metaphor. They might as well stop at an ATM on the way to this coffee shop so she can withdraw $100.</p>
<p>“Day five it is then,” she mutters before turning around to face him.</p>
<p>“What about five days?” he asks.</p>
<p>“Nothing,” she says, shaking her head. “Sure, let’s go get that coffee.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>He watches her aimlessly twirling her coffee stirrer around her cup, long after the cream has been mixed in. He wonders if it’s a nervous habit or if she’s just distracted by something else. It scares him sometimes, how badly he wants to know simply everything about her. How he’s felt this way since the moment she started giving him crap about his old college girlfriend ten years ago. She’s unlike anyone he’s ever met, and he finds himself wondering all of the time what would have happened if they stayed in touch after they moved out here together.</p>
<p>But he knows. Deep down he knows. Their friendship would have progressed into a relationship and that would have ended because he’s decidedly not her type. Carrie breaking his heart was one thing, but this girl? Veronica? He doubts he’d recover from that.</p>
<p>“If you’re waiting for that stirrer to dissolve in the coffee, I think you’re going to need a hotter liquid temperature.”</p>
<p>She startles out of her reverie, looking up at him with a small smile. “So, what happened to you and Carrie? I thought you had an instant connection that you made you feel all alive or some bullshit.”</p>
<p>Getting right into it then.</p>
<p>“She was cheating on me. With the guy we hired to remodel our kitchen, no less.”</p>
<p>Her face falls. “Oh Logan, I’m so sorry.”<br/><br/>“What, no joke about oh so much for being incredible in bed and making all the women fall for me with my skills?”</p>
<p>“Please, I’m not insensitive.” She hesitates, trying to hold back a smirk, but he sees the twinkle of it in her eyes. “I’m not you.”</p>
<p>“Oh okay,” he laughs. “Ouch. Well deserved, but ouch.”</p>
<p>Her smirk breaks through as she brings her coffee cup up to her lips.</p>
<p>“What about Duncan?” he asks. “Did you give up on trying to find the spark?”</p>
<p>She sets her coffee cup back down on the table with a heavy sigh. “We wanted different things. I work too much for example. And I –” she shakes her head, trailing off.</p>
<p>“You what?” Logan prompts.</p>
<p>“It’s stupid,” she says, her gaze now focused down at the table.</p>
<p>“Is it really or did he just make you feel that way?”</p>
<p>She looks up at him, a questioning look in her eyes.</p>
<p>“He doesn’t even know he’s doing it. At least not when we were growing up, he didn’t,” Logan keeps talking. “But Duncan can be really judgmental in my experience with him.”</p>
<p>She sighs again, going back to aimlessly twirling her stirrer through her coffee. “I used to think I never wanted to get married. That I’d seen too many marriages fall apart in my lifetime and I didn’t want to be another statistic. If anything, I’m married to my job. But last month, we were out walking by The Plaza and there was a wedding there and the bride and groom were just leaving as their friends and family cheered them on. And they looked so freaking happy. So, I asked Duncan, why don’t we ever look at each other like that? He laughed. Guess he thought I was making a joke.”</p>
<p>“You weren’t joking?”</p>
<p>She shakes her head. “I told him, we’ve been together for almost five years and I don’t think we’ve ever made each other that happy. I asked him where we were going with our relationship. Was he going to marry me someday or were we just going to keep…tolerating each other? He said he wasn’t a marriage type of guy, but I think he is. What he meant was he didn’t want to marry <em>me</em>. And that was the end of it. I don’t know why I spent five years with him, looking back. He made me feel safe, I guess. Always had a date to parties and for holidays, had someone to go home to at night. But uh, yeah…no fireworks.”</p>
<p>He remembers having told her about relationship fireworks years ago on their plane ride to Chicago. He can’t believe that stuck with her this whole time.</p>
<p>“That guy never could see what was right in front of him,” Logan says, shaking his head.</p>
<p>“What do you mean by that?”</p>
<p><em>Oh shit. </em>Had he said that out loud?</p>
<p>“I mean it as it sounds,” he shrugs, hoping she doesn’t push for him to say more than that.</p>
<p>She shoots him a questioning look, taking another long sip of her coffee. But thankfully, she changes the subject. Although her topic of choice isn’t much better.</p>
<p>“How long has the divorce been finalized?” she asks.</p>
<p>“About two months,” Logan sighs. “I’ve been crashing with my friend Wallace for the past couple of weeks, but I uh, I think I finally found a new place to move to.”</p>
<p>“You’re letting her stay in your place?”</p>
<p>“It’s the kitchen.”</p>
<p>He watches the understanding reach her eyes. “Yeah okay, I don’t blame you. So, where’s the new place at?”</p>
<p>“It’s in Tribeca.”</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s close to the <em>Daily </em>right?”</p>
<p>Logan smiles. “It’s definitely closer than where I was before. You assuming I still work there?”</p>
<p>“I <em>know</em> you still work there. Last week you wrote an opinion piece on kitchen appliances, which now makes a hell of a lot more sense but –”</p>
<p>“You’ve been keeping tabs on me, Ronnie?”</p>
<p>She blushes. “I read the paper, so sue me.”</p>
<p>“There are plenty of paper options to choose from in this city, and you’ve conveniently chosen mine.”</p>
<p>“Maybe I read the <em>Daily</em> before I even learned that you worked there. Ever think about that, huh?”</p>
<p>“You didn’t because on our flight five years ago you thought I was still with the <em>Times</em>.”</p>
<p>“Maybe I was bluffing.”</p>
<p>“I think you’re bluffing now.”</p>
<p>He feels like they’re in the middle of a staring contest and truly this is not normal adult behavior, but if he hasn’t loved figuratively pulling at her pigtails since the first moment that they met…</p>
<p>“Want to get out of here?” she asks, not breaking eye contact. “Go for a walk? This is one of the last nice days we’re going to get before it feels like you’re melting every time you walk outside.”</p>
<p>“You’re from California and you’re troubled by the heat?”</p>
<p>“It’s the humidity, Logan. California’s a freaking desert compared to this.”</p>
<p>He laughs, already pushing himself to his feet. “I can’t fight you on that one.”</p>
<p>He follows her back outside, their remaining coffee contents in tow. “So, did you stick it to the man?”</p>
<p>She pauses at the crosswalk, looking over at him. “Did I what?”</p>
<p>“The all-boys club you were trying to join. Did you make partner?”</p>
<p>“Oh that,” she laughs as they start to make their way across the street. “Yeah, I did. Recently as a matter of fact.”</p>
<p>“Well congratulations,” he raises his coffee cup in a toast salute before taking a sip. It’s starting to cool, time to chug it. “Does it feel as good as you hoped it would?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, it hasn’t really settled in yet.”</p>
<p>“Do they have to tack Mars onto everything now? All their signage and stationery? Your dad must be proud.”</p>
<p>“I’m only a junior partner,” she tells him. “But I do have my own stationary and my dad is proud regardless.”</p>
<p>“Do you get to see him much?”</p>
<p>“Not as much as either of us would like. He’s retired now, you’d think he’d have the time to come visit, but no somebody got too bored with the retired life and decided to start freelancing as a private investigator.”</p>
<p>Logan laughs, unconsciously stepping closer to her as he moves out of the way of a bicyclist. “Your family really does handle the law from all angles, doesn’t it?”</p>
<p>She snorts. “Yeah, all two of us.”</p>
<p>That’s right. When he’d met her, she mentioned something about her mother up and leaving when she was a teenager. She must have stayed away. He knows from his own, different yet similar experience, just how much that sucks.</p>
<p>“I, on the other hand, became the person my parents were always trying to shoo away from our front gate. After my dad got a few posed candid shots in that is.”</p>
<p>“If your hot take on refrigerator brands is what you consider celebrity gossip, we have <em>got</em> to get you out more.”</p>
<p>He rolls his eyes, jabbing her arm with his elbow before stepping behind her to discard his empty coffee cup as they pass a trash can. “I can explain myself, okay? I had my reasons.”</p>
<p>“Do tell,” she pauses to finish off her drink before tossing away her empty cup as well.</p>
<p>“Carrie and I had been arguing over fridges for an entire week. She wanted one with a pull-out freezer at the bottom, I wanted one that split down the middle. Refrigerators. Something as stupid as refrigerators ended my marriage. We’re arguing about them again one night and she goes, well Troy is on my side and he’s redoing our entire kitchen so I think he knows what he’s talking about and what will look best. And she wouldn’t stop going on and on about him. And in my utter maturity I said something like well if you like Troy so much why don’t you go sleep with him tonight? And that’s when she told me that she had been. For the past two months.”</p>
<p>Veronica winces besides him. “Ouch.”</p>
<p>“Yeah. So, I go to work the next day and I’m really irritated. And I write this article about kitchen appliances. I never meant to turn it in or do anything with it. I was just trying to let off some steam. I even e-mailed it out to some of the office as a joke. It’s been sitting in people’s inboxes for weeks by now, it has to be buried. And yet somehow, our summer intern managed to pull that article for print last week instead of the real one I submitted on the upcoming State Board elections.”</p>
<p>“Oh no,” she starts laughing, her hands flying up to cover her mouth like that will hold her back.</p>
<p>“My editor was super thrilled to say the least.”</p>
<p>She starts laughing harder, nearly doubling over with the force of it. “I’m sorry. Really, but – shit. That – shit.”</p>
<p>“That Pulitzer is calling my name for this one I’m sure of it.”</p>
<p>“Oh definitely.” Her laughter has died down a little, but she’s still grinning at him. “Listen, if I ever run into Carrie, and you’ll have to show me a picture so I’m sure, I promise to deck her for you.”</p>
<p>“You’re offering to punch my ex-wife?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at her.</p>
<p>She shrugs. “I know some good lawyers.”</p>
<p>“Are we becoming, dare I say it, <em>friends</em>?” he asks, casting her a sidelong glance.</p>
<p>“Hey, don’t ask me. It’s your loose definition and standards we’re working with here.”</p>
<p>“I don’t have loose standards.”</p>
<p>“Whatever you say, Echolls.”</p>
<p>He shoots her another look. “I mean do people who aren’t friends offer to incite violence against other people who have hurt their…not friends?”</p>
<p>She scrunches her nose up in confusion. “I have no idea what you just asked me.”</p>
<p>Logan shakes his head, stepping closer to her again to sidestep a woman walking her dog. “You’re starting to care about me, aren’t you?”</p>
<p>“Me? Care about you?”</p>
<p>“It’s a radical concept, I know. But you offered to hurt someone who hurt me. You don’t do that for just anybody.”</p>
<p>“Maybe I use all of my free time to moonlight as an MMA fighter.”</p>
<p>“You do no such thing.”</p>
<p>Veronica huffs. “You don’t know my life. Only a handful of parts I’ve shared with you on various modes of transportation.”</p>
<p>“We could change that.”</p>
<p>“Change what?”</p>
<p>“What I know about your life.”</p>
<p>They come to another crosswalk and she turns to face him while they wait for the light to change. “What are you suggesting, Echolls?”</p>
<p>“Have dinner with me some time,” he shrugs. “As <em>friends.</em>”</p>
<p>“Oh, so <em>now</em> you want to be friends,” she laughs, taking the lead as the light changes in striding out across the street. “After ten years, you what? No longer find me attractive? Think of me like a sister?”</p>
<p><em>Far from it</em>.</p>
<p>“Maybe, I’ve matured,” he tells her, right on her heels. “Grown up. I’m in my thirties now, after all. Not my twenties. I’m capable of a little character development.”</p>
<p>“Friends, huh?” she asks slowly. “Does this mean I win the bet?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Be my friend for a few months and see if you still want to sleep me.”</p>
<p>“What makes you think I still want to sleep with you now?”</p>
<p>Logan grins. “Because every time I’ve stepped closer to you on our little walk here to get out of someone else’s way, I’ve heard your sharp intake of breath. I’ll let slide it for now, Ronnie. But I’m not caving that easy.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>No more time jumps, I promise. Just following the flow and pattern of the movie.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They have a completely normal dinner at a new Italian place that opened up around the corner from her office building that she’s been dying to try. Logan enjoys it so much he tells his friend who happens to be the restaurant critic for the <em>Daily</em> to give it rave reviews to help drum up more business for it. She gives him crap that he likes Italian food more than she does, which she didn’t think was possible. And he gives her crap for trying to go back to work after they finish eating.</p>
<p>All in all, it really does feel like they’re becoming friends. And she likes spending time with him. Ten-years-ago her never would have believed this. But as she settles into her new junior partner position at her law firm, she also finds herself settling into a solid friendship with Logan Echolls.</p>
<p>On a Friday night, she notices his name light up her cell phone around 11 PM. She’s confused, narrowly wondering if he’s drunk dialed her.</p>
<p>“You sleeping?” he asks, when she answers.</p>
<p>“No, I’m watching a movie from the comfort of my own bed.”</p>
<p>“Oh, anything good?”</p>
<p>“Not sure, it just started and I’ve never seen it. It’s called Serendipity. I figured given…<em>everything</em> I should give it a shot.”</p>
<p>“Which channel?”</p>
<p>She tells him and catches him up on what he’s missed so far. They sit in silence for about 10 minutes, watching the movie with each other on the phone.</p>
<p>“So, this is a movie about us,” Logan says, breaking the silence first.</p>
<p>“No, it’s not.”</p>
<p>“Please, isn’t serendipity our whole thing? That’s why you started watching it.”</p>
<p>“It’s not about us,” she protests again. “They just keep missing each other. Meanwhile, I can’t seem to escape you.”</p>
<p>“Like you actually want to escape me. Good joke, Ronnie.”</p>
<p>“You’re everywhere, Logan. Sara <em>wishes</em> she had that problem with Jonathan.”</p>
<p>“Am I smothering you? Is that what you’re trying to say?”</p>
<p>She groans. “I – no, of course not.”</p>
<p>“You hesitated.”</p>
<p>“Shut up and watch the damn movie.”</p>
<p>15 minutes pass this time before he speaks again. “Have you been sleeping?”</p>
<p>“What?” she asks in confusion. “In the past couple of minutes? No.”</p>
<p>“No, just…since you broke up with Duncan.”</p>
<p>She turns down the volume on the TV. “Yeah, I’ve been sleeping fine. You haven’t, I take it?”</p>
<p>He doesn’t answer right away and she’s not sure if it’s because he got too wrapped up in the movie or if it’s because he doesn’t actually want to have this conversation he started.</p>
<p>“Do you stay on your side of the bed? Even in my new place, I feel like I have to automatically leave Carrie’s side available for her. I can’t seem to shake the habit.”</p>
<p>Veronica looks over at the space Duncan used to occupy when he’d spend the night. She hadn’t even realized she’s been doing it, staying to her side.</p>
<p>“I guess we’re creatures of habit,” she tells him. “I didn’t even realize I’ve been staying on the same side this whole time.”</p>
<p>“We should sleep in the middle of the bed tonight, really spread out and take up all that extra space,” he suggests.</p>
<p>“If we get too used to having the whole bed to ourselves, it will be impossible to go back to sharing it with a partner.”</p>
<p>“Nah, just sleep directly on top of the person. Especially you, you’re tiny enough they probably won’t even notice.”</p>
<p>“Ass.”</p>
<p>Logan laughs into the phone. “Which side is your designated side anyway?”</p>
<p>“The right.”</p>
<p>Now he hums. “Well would you look at that, I prefer the left.”</p>
<p>She tries to tell herself not to picture him curled up next to her watching this movie together in person. Tries not to think about the two of them accidentally spooning at that Best Western all those years ago. But the harder she tries to push the images away, the more they persist.</p>
<p><em>He just got out of a </em>marriage<em>, Veronica. He’s not ready for that yet. Don’t push it</em>.</p>
<p>“Do you miss her?” she asks quietly. “Carrie?”</p>
<p>Another long pause on his end, and then faintly she hears, “Yeah.”</p>
<p>“It’s okay to miss her, Logan. She was your wife. You loved her. No matter how badly things ended, that doesn’t take away your past together.”</p>
<p>“I just feel like an idiot, you know? I couldn’t see that she wasn’t happy.”</p>
<p>“Despite what I may or may not have previously called you, you’re not an idiot. You did nothing wrong, Logan. Maybe the fireworks just weren’t mutual.”</p>
<p>He sighs. “Do you miss Duncan?”</p>
<p>“Surprisingly no. Guess that means that break up was for the better then.”</p>
<p>“We deserve mutual fireworks,” he tells her. “And someone who won’t mind if we fall asleep on top of them because we’ve gotten too used to sleeping in the middle of the bed.”</p>
<p>She laughs, silently wondering to herself if that person is him.</p>
<p>They go back to watching the movie in silence for a bit, neither of them willing to hang up and end the call. Logan is once again the first one to speak.</p>
<p>“I think I have a tumor.”</p>
<p>“You do not,” she tells him with an exasperated sigh.</p>
<p>“No, really. I Googled my symptoms and that’s what it told me.”</p>
<p>“What you have is likely a combination of dehydration and insomnia.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, are you a doctor now? Didn’t realize law school and medical school were the same thing. Did you get a two for one special at Columbia? Must have been one hell of a scholarship.”</p>
<p>“Just so you have the visual aid, I’m rolling my eyes at you right now.”</p>
<p>“I could be <em>dying</em>, Veronica.”</p>
<p>“You’re not dying. What you need is a sound soother. The white noise might help you to fall asleep. You used to surf, didn’t you? I bet the ocean waves setting would relax you and allow you to sleep better.”</p>
<p>“Now she’s a shrink.”</p>
<p>“Do you like tea?” she asks, ignoring his commentary. “Chamomile may help.”</p>
<p>“Who drinks tea?”</p>
<p>“You’re insufferable.”</p>
<p>“So you’ve mentioned.”</p>
<p>Another lull in their conversation as their attention turns back to the movie.</p>
<p>“We should do something like that. Test the limits of our own serendipity,” Logan says a few minutes later.</p>
<p>“Go our separate ways and see how long it takes to find each other again? With our track record? See you in five years.”</p>
<p>“No, no, write something inside the cover of an old book, sell it to a used bookstore, and see if we ever find it again. Sounds like a fun game.”</p>
<p>“Us finding each other again and again isn’t enough for you?”</p>
<p>“Come on, humor me. A dying man’s last wish.”</p>
<p>“You’re not dying.”</p>
<p>“Says the non-medical professional.”</p>
<p>“If you’re so worried about it, go see an actual doctor,” she tells him.</p>
<p>“Nah, I’m sure it’s nothing. I probably just need to drink more water.”</p>
<p>“When I slap you the next time I see you, you know why.”</p>
<p>The movie reaches its pinnacle moment when Sara and Jonathan finally find each other again.</p>
<p>“Hey Veronica?”</p>
<p>She hums in response.</p>
<p>“Thanks for keeping me company tonight.”</p>
<p>“Sure, Logan,” she says, feeling a smile tug at the corners of her lips. “That’s what friends are for.”</p><hr/>
<p>He loves New York in the fall. The cool, crisp air. The radiant palette of the fall leaves. Southern California wasn’t big on deciduous trees. Or on seasons for that matter.</p>
<p>Veronica walks beside him through Central Park, idly describing some work fiasco from this past week. He half listens, nodding along. He likes the sweater she’s wearing today; it really brings out the blue in her eyes. That’s when he realizes he’s stopped listening to her – his writer brain is now focused on finding adjectives to describe the blue of her eyes. Time to back track.</p>
<p>“Wait, Doug did what?” he asks.</p>
<p>She groans. “I knew you weren’t listening to me.”</p>
<p>“I got little sidetracked, but I’m back now. Carry on.”</p>
<p>“Sidetracked, huh? By what? That female jogger over there determined not to give up on her summer wardrobe?”</p>
<p>“The color of your eyes,” he shrugs, knowing she won’t read his honesty.</p>
<p>She fake laughs. “You’re hilarious. But yeah, in sum, I get the pleasure of firing Doug on Monday.”</p>
<p>“I’m still confused, what did he do?”</p>
<p>“Leaked confidential information to opposing council?”</p>
<p>She says it like a question, an accusatory ‘you really didn’t hear any of that?’</p>
<p>
  <em>No, Veronica but did you know your eyes are the same color blue as the pool I used to have growing up?</em>
</p>
<p>“Right. Attorney client privilege. Now the client is seeking to sue the whole firm. See? I listen.”</p>
<p>She shakes her head. “It’s a mess.”</p>
<p>“Okay, enough work talk, it’s stressing you out,” he tells her, physically moving her out of the way of a tiny dog she very nearly stepped on. He shoots the owner an apologetic look. “I had that dream again last night.”</p>
<p>“The one where you’re a pilot?” she asks, looking over at him.</p>
<p>He nods. “Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Did you figure out how to land the plane yet?”</p>
<p>“No,” he sighs. “Do you think it’s supposed to be a metaphor about my life?”</p>
<p>“That you’re flying a plane you don’t know how to land? Sounds like a metaphor for Doug’s life right about now.”</p>
<p>“What did I tell you about work?”</p>
<p>She shoots him a look like she’s innocent of his accusations. “I’m listening. Your life is metaphorically out of control. What are you going to do about it?”</p>
<p>He thinks about her question coming out as a challenge. Like he should just grab her and kiss her and show her exactly what he wants to do about it. But that would only spiral things further out of control, wouldn’t it? The last thing he wants is to freak her out and scare her off.</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Redecorate my apartment maybe?”</p>
<p>She sighs. “Don’t listen to your sister, there is nothing wrong with your place.”</p>
<p>“She said it looked like it was decorated by a frat boy.”</p>
<p>“Does Trina even know any frat boys?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know her social life well enough to answer that, nor do I care enough to ask.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think your no control dreams are of any reference to your interior decorating skills.”</p>
<p>“I’m going to buy a new rug.”</p>
<p>“Do you listen when I talk?”</p>
<p>“Only sometimes.”</p>
<p>She huffs, redirecting them down a different path through the park. He follows along aimlessly, not caring where they walk.</p>
<p>“What about you?” Logan asks. “Do you have any recurring dreams?”</p>
<p>He swears he sees her blush before trying to duck behind her hair to hide it.</p>
<p>“You <em>do</em> have one,” he tells her, grinning. “And you’re embarrassed by it.”</p>
<p>“I never said that. In fact, I didn’t respond at all.”</p>
<p>“You’re blushing, Veronica. It’s a common reaction to embarrassment. Did they skip that lecture in your pre-med/ pre-law combo school?”</p>
<p>“Will you let that go already?” she asks with a groan.</p>
<p>“No, I won’t. I’ll be coming to you for all and any medical advice. Now, let’s get back to this recurring dream of yours. Is it one of those, show up to some large public setting and you’re naked kind of dreams?”</p>
<p>She shoots him a look.</p>
<p>“All right, okay, that’s not it. Let’s see, is it something embarrassing involving a celebrity crush? An ex-boyfriend? Me?”</p>
<p>She tries to duck behind her hair again. <em>Bingo</em>.</p>
<p>“Interesting, very interesting,” Logan continues. “So, is it a sex dream?”</p>
<p>“Please stop.”</p>
<p>“You have a recurring sex dream featuring either a celebrity crush, an ex-boyfriend, or yours truly. Or wait, does it feature all of us? How kinky are you, Ronnie?”</p>
<p>“And here I thought we’d progressed past your inane desire to pester me about my sex life.”</p>
<p>“Ten years and I still haven’t received a single answer out of you,” he says, shooting her a sideways glance.</p>
<p>“Fine,” she huffs. “What was the first question you asked me about it all those years ago? I think it was something to do with me being a virgin? At 22, I was not a virgin. There you go. Answer received.”</p>
<p>“No, no, no, no, no,” Logan says, shaking his head. “I want to know about your recurring sex dream. That is my topic and question of choice.”</p>
<p>“I never said I had a recurring sex dream.”</p>
<p>“Your lack of response and avoidance did.”</p>
<p>“Logan,” she whines, turning to look at him with a pleading look in her eyes.</p>
<p>What is so wrong with him that he hears that and immediately thinks about getting her to beg for things from him when they are…in a state of undress…</p>
<p>“They’re about me, aren’t they?” he asks. “That’s why you don’t want to talk about them.”</p>
<p>“I do <em>not</em> have sex dreams about you,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest.</p>
<p>“Oh really? Then who are they about?”</p>
<p>She shoots him that same pleading look, but he’s not backing down from this one. One way or another, he’s going to get her to open up about this. After all, he <em>has</em> been trying for ten years.</p>
<p>“They’re not about anyone,” she says quietly, her gaze focused on the ground as she kicks at a pile of leaves. “I can never make out the guy’s face, it’s always just a blur.”</p>
<p>“Do you have sex with this faceless man?” he asks a little too loudly, earning him an appalled glance from an elderly lady nearby.</p>
<p>“Why do you want to know so badly?” she asks softly. “What good does having the knowledge of my sex fantasies bring to you? Are you going to use it against me? Bring it up at the most inopportune time?”</p>
<p><em>Not use it against you, Ronnie. More like use it </em>on <em>you.</em></p>
<p>“You are so easily embarrassed by sex, why is that?” he asks instead.</p>
<p>She kicks at another pile of leaves. “I–” she cuts herself off shaking her head. “I have my reasons.”</p>
<p>“Okay, well what if I ease you into it? Tell you about my sexual fantasy?”</p>
<p>“Why are we still talking about this?” she asks, looking around helplessly. “Weren’t we talking about your need to control something in your life? What does that have to do with me preferring to be on top?”</p>
<p>Logan freezes in his tracks, staring after her in a bit of a shocked silence, with his mouth slightly ajar. She turns back around when she notices his absence from her side, tossing him the biggest shit-eating grin he’s ever seen on her.</p>
<p>“And for the record,” Veronica adds, slowly walking back towards him. “This faceless man? He's always getting me off in public.”</p>
<p>He swears he nearly falls over as she starts to saunter away again. Why is she like this? And she calls <em>him</em> the asshole?</p>
<p>“Does this work in the courtroom?” he calls after her when he finds his voice again, jogging to catch up.</p>
<p>“Do I get off in the courtroom? Maybe not in the traditional sense, but it is a rush when –”</p>
<p>“No,” he says, shaking his head. “This whole ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t want to talk about it’ then boom bombshell drop routine.”</p>
<p>“I do very much enjoy playing dumb only to turn around and catch them in their own trap,” she hums, tossing him another grin.</p>
<p>“You really are Elle Woods. Just maybe without the pink. And the chihuahua.”</p>
<p>That gets her to laugh. “Honestly Logan, you’re too easy. Talking about sex doesn’t embarrass me. I just enjoy making you beg for it.”</p>
<p>“But you said –” he starts to protest.</p>
<p>“A lie.”</p>
<p>“Can you uh, keep demonic courtroom Veronica out of this relationship?” he asks, gesturing between them.</p>
<p>She laughs again. “So, you can harass me, but I can’t harass you?”</p>
<p>“But now I have to find something else to harass you about. If you’re just going to straight up answer my questions about sex that’s no fun for me.”</p>
<p>“It’s not?” she asks, batting her eyelashes at him. “So, you don’t want to hear about the time that I –”</p>
<p>“Please don’t,” he groans.</p>
<p>She smirks. “Oh, my dear Mr. Echolls, I do believe you’re about to lose your own bet.”</p>
<p>“Is that what this is all about? You want me to want to sleep with you? So, you win $100? Doesn’t that law firm pay you enough?”</p>
<p>“It’s not about the money, it’s about the pride.”</p>
<p>“Is our whole friendship a sham?” he asks, placing a hand to his chest in mock hurt.</p>
<p>She stops walking and turns to face him, reaching up to place her hands on his shoulders. “I am 100% in this friendship. You’re not going to let my competitive nature ruin things now, are you?”</p>
<p>Fuck, the way she’s standing there right in front of him, <em>touching </em>him, he should kiss her. Just grab her by the face and –</p>
<p>“So, you want to go see a movie later?” Logan asks instead, mentally kicking himself.</p>
<p><em>You big chicken</em>.</p>
<p>She drops her arms away from his shoulders and clucks her tongue. “Sorry, can’t. I have a date.”</p>
<p>“Ha, ha, very funny. So, what’s out that we haven’t seen yet?”</p>
<p>“No, Logan,” she wraps her arms around herself. “I really do have a date.”</p>
<p><em>Well shit</em>.</p>
<p>Now he’s really glad he didn’t kiss her. But fuck if it doesn’t feel like he’s just been sucker punched.</p>
<p>“Oh, I didn’t realize you were seeing someone,” he offers lamely.</p>
<p>She shakes her head. “It’s no big deal. It’s a blind date, actually. Jackie set it up. I don’t have to go if you’d rather keep hanging out. I can cancel.”</p>
<p>That eases some of the tension that’s creeped into his shoulders, but not all of it. “No, you should go. It probably is time we both get back out there.”</p>
<p>“Logan.”</p>
<p>He can’t read how she’s looking at him. He thought he’d learned how to read Veronica Mars by now, but she’s awfully good at hiding behind a mask. He still needs to figure out when she’s faking it and when she’s being genuine.</p>
<p>Like right now, he swears she’s looking at him – wanting him to give her an excuse not to go on this blind date. But if what she’s actually looking at him, pleading with him to be okay with this? God, this is what he hated about dating. And he and Veronica aren’t even a couple.</p>
<p>“Are you wearing that?” he asks. “It’s a good color on you. Brings out the color of your eyes.”</p>
<p>She nods, casting her gaze away from him.</p>
<p><em>Oh fuck</em>. Was she really hoping he’d ask her not to go? He has no idea what he’s doing here. This is why men and women can’t be friends. <em>This is why</em>.</p>
<p>“Want to come rug shopping with me tomorrow?” he asks, trying to salvage their light-heartedness from earlier. “You can tell me all about how awful blind dates are while criticizing my decorating taste.”</p>
<p>That gets her to crack a smile. “You don’t need a new rug. But yeah, I’ll be there.”</p>
<p>Literally no idea what he’s doing. Do friends go rug shopping together?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She helps him maneuver his furniture around the best they can in his small living room, to make room for his new rug which he is way too proud of. It’s a grey rug, but the pattern on it gives off an appearance which makes it look like stone. She spent ten minutes arguing with him in the middle of the furniture store that it was meant to be an outdoor rug. He said he liked it because he knew Trina would hate it, to which she countered with the question of wasn’t he only buying a new rug <em>because</em> Trina didn’t like his decorating style?</p>
<p>And suddenly he was picky. This was the second weekend in a row they’d gone out looking for rugs, because last Sunday nothing fit his sudden sense of style. Every time she starts to wonder why she puts up with him, he flashes her that stupid grin of his or manages to make her laugh or says something that makes her feel like no one else has ever truly understood that about her besides him.</p>
<p>But she’s also so damn confused by him and what he wants out of this relationship. Half the time it feels like he’s flirting with her and the other half he’s letting Jackie set her up on blind dates without a fight from him and even letting his friend Wallace set <em>him</em> up on a blind date just yesterday. Is he actually ready to move on from Carrie, just not with her? Or did he only accept this date because she accepted that date last weekend and he’s trying to prove some bizarre Logan-esque point?</p>
<p>It’s giving her a headache.</p>
<p>She <em>knows</em> she should just ask him. But she’s far too committed to winning this bet after all these years to be the first one to cave. And if he <em>has</em> started to see her like he does Mac, as a sister, there’s no coming back from that. The last thing she wants to do is make things too awkward between them causing her to lose him as a friend. He’s come to mean a lot to her over these past few months. Jackie has even started complaining that she feels like she never sees her anymore because she spends all her free time with him.</p>
<p>She knows she’s doing it. She spent hours with him walking around furniture stores looking for a rug for him two Sundays in a row for Christ’s sake. She has never tried to help Jackie or Duncan or Mac or even her dad pick out a rug before. But when Logan had asked if she wanted to tag along and help, she didn’t even hesitate to tell him yes.</p>
<p>“Veronica, move that end table, will you?”</p>
<p>She nods, unplugging the lamp that sits on top of it and moving that first.</p>
<p>And now she’s here helping him rearrange his living room? She must <em>really </em>have it bad for him. As she catches herself staring at his arm muscles while he pushes the couch over a few inches to the left, she realizes she’s invested in the whole damn package. Not for the first time, she thinks about calling Mac to yell at her for bringing them together in the first place. If these fireworks don’t end up being mutual…she’ll be the one with the insomnia tumor.</p>
<p>“So, are you going to tell me how your date went yesterday or am I just supposed to guess?” Veronica asks, setting the lamp back down on the end table.</p>
<p>“You still haven’t told me about yours from last weekend,” Logan counters, struggling to move his coffee table out of the way. There really isn’t enough room in here to add a rug as an afterthought with all of his furniture already moved in.</p>
<p>“I tried to,” she laughs, moving over to help with the table. “You told me we were on a mission and now wasn’t the time.”</p>
<p>“Okay well, now is the time. You first, I’ll follow.”</p>
<p>She expels a long dramatic sigh. “It was awful.”</p>
<p>“Ooo intrigue awful how?”</p>
<p>He stares at the spot where they’ve placed the coffee table and then shakes his head, gesturing to her that he wants to move it again.</p>
<p>“Well let’s see, where to start? He wanted to know if I could help him get out of some parking tickets since I’m a lawyer.”</p>
<p>“He’s over here still trying to drive a car in New York City, huh?”</p>
<p>“Oh no, that’s the best part,” she starts, shaking her head. “The parking tickets are from five years ago when he lived in Michigan.”</p>
<p>Logan snorts. “How the hell?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” she groans. “No, the table doesn’t work there it blocks the entryway to the kitchen.”</p>
<p>“Okay Martha Stewart,” he grumbles, gesturing to her to help him lift it again. “What else did this guy do?”</p>
<p>“Umm he told me that he hopes our future children take after me in both beauty and brains.”</p>
<p>“Oh my god,” Logan laughs. “Where did Jackie find this guy?”</p>
<p>“She works with him. Clearly has not spent a lot of time with him outside of work.”</p>
<p>They find a spot they’re both satisfied with for the coffee table placement and Veronica goes to bring the end table back over next to the couch.  </p>
<p>“Do you even want to have kids?” Logan asks. “I mean not with this guy, just in general.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. It’s not like I have a lot of time for them right now. Work is basically my child.”</p>
<p>“I thought work was your husband?”</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s both.”</p>
<p>“Do I need to remind you that work doesn’t have to be your entire life?”</p>
<p>“I’m not working right now, am I?”</p>
<p>He groans. “Okay, okay, work aside, would you ever want kids?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Me as a mom?” she asks, plugging his lamp back into the wall. “What even would that look like?”</p>
<p>“I think you’d make a great mom,” Logan tells her. “You’ve got the bossy part down already.”</p>
<p>“Ha, ha very funny,” she says, wishing she had something to chuck at him. “But anyway, after his parking tickets and his planning out our whole future together after one meal, I decided I won’t be seeing him again.”</p>
<p>“Did he try to kiss you?”</p>
<p>“Oh he tried,” Veronica groans. “I did the whole, turning my head so he ends up kissing my cheek bit. And even <em>that</em> I was uncomfortable with.”</p>
<p>“Did you tell Jackie how badly it went?”</p>
<p>“Oh yes,” she laughs. “She has since apologized profusely. All right, your turn. How was last night?”</p>
<p>Is it bad that she wishes he had a horrible time? If he tells her he’s seeing this woman again she’s not sure if she’ll be able to hide her own hurt over the situation.</p>
<p>“It was…fine, I guess.”</p>
<p>“Fine you guess?” she parrots back. “Explain.”</p>
<p>“She was nice,” he shrugs. “Funny. Wasn’t after my journalist connections or my future children.”</p>
<p>“But?” she presses, hoping there really is a ‘but’ to all of this.</p>
<p>“I guess there just wasn’t much of a connection there. I mean nice enough if we got stuck next to each other on a flight for a couple of hours, but nothing to build a relationship off of.”</p>
<p>“We got stuck next to each other on a flight for a couple of hours,” she says softly, hoping that doesn’t mean what her brain is trying to tell her it does.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but we’re us. And our story is epic.”</p>
<p>“Epic? Epic how?”</p>
<p>“You know, spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed. Epic.”</p>
<p>She can’t help but roll her eyes. “All right calm down, writer boy. We’re rearranging your living room, not surviving the Titanic.”</p>
<p>But truthfully, it’s the flicker of hope she needed. He thinks they have a story, and an epic one at that.</p>
<p>“After all, you know what they say,” Logan continues. “They don’t write songs about the ones that come easy.”</p>
<p>“Nobody says that.”</p>
<p>“Nobody – have you ever listened to music in your entire life?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I just like trying to get a rise out of you,” she laughs. “I told you, you were easy.”</p>
<p>“If I’m easy does that mean you wouldn’t write a song about me?”</p>
<p>“That would require me to know how to write a song.”</p>
<p>“Hypothetically speaking.”</p>
<p>“What would I even say?” she asks. “Talk about your questionable choice in outdoor rugs for an indoor setting? The way you only half listen when I start talking about work? The color of your eyes?”</p>
<p>“What about the color of my eyes?”</p>
<p>She feels herself blushing and she<em> knows </em>he noticed. Oh, fuck it.</p>
<p>“They remind me of hot chocolate. Something I first noticed years ago.”</p>
<p>He smirks at her. “Yours remind me of the pool I had growing up. The one Trina owns now.”</p>
<p>She looks up at him, unconsciously biting her lower lip. Maybe he does think about her the same way she thinks about him. Maybe she –</p>
<p>Her thoughts are cut off when his phone starts ringing. He apologizes and moves to answer it, greeting Wallace on the other line. The moment is lost when he returns, telling her he’s headed over to Wallace’s to watch the Knicks play later.</p>
<p>Lost moment or not, they had it, and there’s no going back now. He thinks about her eyes the same way she thinks about his.</p>
<p>Epic.</p><hr/>
<p>“Come on, you’re telling me you’ve never had a one-night stand?” Logan asks over lunch the following Thursday.</p>
<p>He’d dragged her out of the office to eat with him at a diner his food critic coworker had raved about. She, of course, protested the entire time until he told her about the milkshakes. That, of all things, had convinced her. Maybe he <em>is</em> getting to know her too well.</p>
<p>“As I do recall telling you years ago, they’re just not my thing. Even as I’ve gotten older, they’re still not.”</p>
<p>“So, you always have to have feelings associated with sex?”<br/>
<br/>
“What’s so wrong with that?” she asks, her voice going up an octave higher as it always does when she gets defensive. He really does know too much about her.</p>
<p>“No strings attached sex can be fun. You both get what you needed and move on.”</p>
<p>“What do you say to them when you leave them right after sex? Thanks for the orgasm, gotta run?”</p>
<p>“No! I don’t know. Awkward small talk maybe.”</p>
<p>“Is this where you promise them you’ll call even though you never do?”</p>
<p>“Wow, you really do think I’m an asshole, don’t you?”</p>
<p>“They’re one-night stands, do you actually call any of them up afterward?”</p>
<p>“No, but they go into it wanting the same thing. No strings attached sex. I give them what they want, and we go our separate ways. Mind you, it’s been years since I’ve had one.”</p>
<p>Veronica rolls her eyes. “Right, okay. How do you know they’re not faking an orgasm? You think you’ve successfully satisfied all these random women before Carrie?”</p>
<p>“Please, I can tell when a woman is faking it. Trust me, Ronnie. With me? It’s always the real thing.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” she says, holding up her hands as if in defeat.</p>
<p>She takes another sip of her milkshake and makes a little moaning noise. Is her drink really that good? He’s enjoying his enough but clearly, he underestimated just how much Veronica likes milkshakes.</p>
<p>But then she does it again, another moan a little breathier this time, a little louder.</p>
<p>“Are you okay?” Logan asks, confused.</p>
<p>She doesn’t answer, instead moaning <em>again</em> this time with her eyes slipping closed. What is she – oh my god she is not? Not here. Not in this very crowded public restaurant. But she doesn’t stop. Little grunts intermix with those damn breathy little moans. Her chest heaves like she’s panting and all he can do is shake his head and try to hide from embarrassment as she starts to attract attention as she gets louder. Is she actually like this in bed? Damn it, it’s starting to turn him on.  She needs to stop.</p>
<p>“Okay, I get it,” he tells her. “They’re easy to fake and sound very real.”</p>
<p>But oh, that was a mistake. She <em>knows</em> she’s embarrassing him now and that only makes her get louder. She starts getting more and more vocal about it tossing in some “oh yes, fuck, right there, yes” commentary between the moans. People are full on staring now. He makes a point to put both of his hands up on the table to show everyone that he is, in fact, not doing anything to her. She yells out one last “oh god, yes” before tossing her head back and arching her back. He swears he sees her mouth his name on a silent breathy exhale and feels the tightening in his pants in appreciation.</p>
<p>Right so, as much as he wants to sprint out of here right now, he won’t be doing that for a bit.</p>
<p>Veronica opens her eyes and sits back up straight, looking at him like she didn’t just fake an orgasm in the middle of this diner, while she takes another sip from her milkshake. Off to his left he hears an older lady tell a waitress that she’ll have what she’s having, pointing in Veronica’s direction.</p>
<p>“Was that fun for you?” Logan asks. “Did that live up to your recurring public sex dreams with the faceless man?”</p>
<p>“Your face is so red right now,” she tells him, picking at her French fries. “I can’t tell if you’re embarrassed or turned on.”</p>
<p>He shakes his head in response, scrubbing a hand over his face.</p>
<p>“I’ll take that as both,” she says around her bite of fry.</p>
<p>He can’t even look at her right now, his mind is so far down in the gutter. If that’s her faking it, what’s the real thing like? Would she say his name? Pull his hair? Leave scratch marks down his back?</p>
<p>“Oh come on, Logan, people have already gotten over it. I didn’t make <em>that </em>much of a scene.”</p>
<p>He needs to think of something for payback ASAP. Should he yell at her for having an affair or something and storm out? Ouch, no, that’s too on the nose. He needs something else. That wouldn’t make her uncomfortable either. People yelling at her, with her, around her, whatever, is what she does for a living. No, he wants her squirming in her seat. He wants her turned on, for real.</p>
<p>“Noises are one thing, but you know what’s hard to fake, Ronnie? Your body’s natural reaction. I know how to get a woman wet.”</p>
<p>And now her cheeks are turning pink and she’s avoiding his eyes. Excellent.</p>
<p>“I mean, really truly, I know how to go down on a woman,” he continues. “And I enjoy it. And so do they.”</p>
<p>She’s biting her lower lip and concentrating on her plate so hard like she’s either trying to move it with her mind or escape into it.</p>
<p>“Do you know what that’s like, Veronica? Has anyone ever given you <em>really</em> <em>good</em> oral sex?”</p>
<p>Her head is turned and she’s looking out the window, her hand covering her mouth in a fist.</p>
<p>“You know, the kind that makes your toes curl and your thighs shake? It makes your back arch right off the bed, maybe you even squirt a little. Have you ever squirted, Veronica?”</p>
<p>“I swear to god, Logan,” she hisses at him.</p>
<p>“Payback’s a bitch,” he laughs, reaching for his own milkshake.</p>
<p>She’s shaking her head at him, combing her fingers through her hair.</p>
<p>“You going to give me $100 now or what?” he asks.</p>
<p>“Never said I wanted to have sex with you.”</p>
<p>“Oral sex is still sex.”</p>
<p>“Never said I wanted that either.”</p>
<p>“Your body language says otherwise.”</p>
<p>Now she shoots him a look. “Oh yeah? You think I didn’t notice you squirming earlier? Still got that erection? You can’t blame it on it being the morning this time it’s almost 1 PM.”</p>
<p>“Touché.”</p>
<p>She glares at him, so he glares back. Their waitress tentatively approaches them with the check.  She clearly heard Veronica’s little outburst earlier and can definitely tell she’s interrupting something now. She lays their check down, tells them “no rush,” and scurries away so fast.</p>
<p>“Going on anymore blind dates anytime soon?” Logan asks.</p>
<p>“Hmm, not sure. I’m not entirely opposed. What about you?”</p>
<p>“Same, same.”</p>
<p>She nods, still staring him down.</p>
<p>“Are you looking for a date so you can have an orgasm for real?” he asks.</p>
<p>“Why, are you offering?”</p>
<p>“Do you want me to be offering?”</p>
<p>“Do you want me to want you to be offering?”</p>
<p>“Oh Jesus Christ, just fuck her already,” the guy at the table next to them groans.</p>
<p>“Richard,” the woman with him grits out, smacking him on the arm.</p>
<p>Veronica blushes, trying to hide behind her curtain of hair. He ducks his head too, making a deep dive through his wallet for his credit card which is in the same place it always is. She pushes his hand away when he reaches for the check, slapping cash down on the table instead.</p>
<p>“We can get out of here quicker if we don’t have to wait for her to run your card,” she explains.</p>
<p>“Somewhere else you want to be?”</p>
<p>“Logan,” she sighs.</p>
<p>He lets her leave the cash and follows her back outside into the chilly late autumn air.</p>
<p>“I need to get back to work,” she says, still not able to fully look at him.</p>
<p>“Are we going to talk about what happened in there?”</p>
<p>“Can we do it later? I’m supposed to have a call with a client at –”</p>
<p>“Veronica.”</p>
<p>She finally meets his gaze, swimming pools meeting hot chocolate as he thinks about their conversation from Sunday.</p>
<p>“We took it too far,” she tells him. “I started it, I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>“That’s it? That’s all you want to say?”</p>
<p>“Seriously, I have to go. The call’s at 1:30 and –”</p>
<p>“Veronica.”</p>
<p>“I’m not trying to ignore, it okay?” she says, giving him a look he swears he’s seen somewhere before. “I just…I don’t have time.”</p>
<p>“Call me after work?”</p>
<p>She nods, already trying to turn and leave. “I’ll talk to you later.”</p>
<p>As he watches her retreat, he realizes where he’s seen that look before. Lilly had it right before she broke up with him in high school. Carrie had it when she confessed about her affair. No, no, he’s not losing her, not like this.</p>
<p>
  <em>Men and women can’t be friends because the sex always gets in the way.</em>
</p><hr/>
<p>She almost doesn’t call him. But she owes him…something. He’s become somewhat of her best friend and things got way too out of control at the diner today. It had started out so harmless, her teasing him the same as always. But the way it had spiraled, taken on the life of…something else.</p>
<p>She definitely isn’t another Mac to him. He doesn’t see her as his sister. But stupid bet aside, what are they to each other? Do they really want to do this? She can’t lose him, she <em>won’t</em>. And what if he’s right? What if they sleep together and it ruins everything? She <em>likes</em> spending her Sundays harassing him about rugs. She <em>likes</em> when he drags her away from the office for a long lunch with him. She doesn’t need the other stuff. Not if it complicates all of this.</p>
<p>She gets his voicemail and starts thinking the worst about the ruins of their friendship when he immediately calls her back apologizing that he just got out of the shower.</p>
<p>Oh no, she does not need mental images of a wet, naked Logan right now.</p>
<p>“Logan, listen –” she starts.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” he cuts her off. “About earlier today, I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>“No, Logan. I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have –”</p>
<p>“I overreacted,” he says, cutting her off again.</p>
<p>“You were right, we need to talk about –”</p>
<p>“I need you, Veronica. I don’t know how it happened and I don’t know when, but I need you as a part of my life. I don’t want to do anything that’s going to screw that up.”</p>
<p>She exhales a sigh of relief. “Well would you look at that, we finally agree on something.”</p>
<p>“You and I,” he starts, before pausing. “I think we’d be something really great. I want you to know that.”</p>
<p>“But?”</p>
<p>“But I’m not ready for that yet, Veronica. I’m still not over Carrie. I realized that on my date last weekend and I – I don’t want to do that to you. I won’t. If we do this, I want to be all in, not halfway out the door. You deserve that. <em>We</em> deserve that.”</p>
<p>She closes her eyes against his words, glad that he can’t see her in this moment. He wants what she wants, but he’s not ready and she respects that. They can stay friends. They make great friends, really, the best of them.</p>
<p>“Ronnie, you there?”</p>
<p>She wants to tell him she’ll wait for him, but what if he never gets over Carrie? What if she wastes her life waiting for a man to love her who’s never able to?</p>
<p>“I heard about this new photography exhibit that opened up in SoHo. We should go this weekend,” she tells him.</p>
<p>“You’re okay with this?” he asks, ignoring her offer for plans. “Us just staying friends?”</p>
<p>“I need you too, Logan. Who else would put up with me?”</p>
<p>She thinks she hears him laugh a little on the other line. “All right. Okay, this weekend let’s go look at some photography in SoHo. Do you think it’s too early to start Christmas shopping? Trina already sent me a wish list.”</p>
<p>“Why is your sister like this?”</p>
<p>“Half-sister,” he corrects like he always does. “I don’t know and people say <em>I’m</em> the spoiled one. Those people clearly have not spent enough time with Trina.”</p>
<p>“Is she coming here? Do I finally get to meet her?”</p>
<p>“Oh no, she will not be flying into a potential blizzard situation. The cold weather is not for her.”</p>
<p>“We’re two California transplants doing okay out here on the east coast.”</p>
<p>“We’re better at adapting than she is. What about your dad? Is the infamous P.I. going to grace us with his presence?”</p>
<p>“He plans to. And I plan to keep him far away from you.”</p>
<p>“Parents love me.”</p>
<p>“I doubt that.”</p>
<p>There’s a moment of silence, neither one of them knowing how to end the call. And then after a beat Logan says, “Hey Veronica?”</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
<p>“Well you know they say,” she starts, borrowing his words from a few days ago. “They don’t write songs about the ones that come easy.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you've never seen this movie, you have got to watch this scene to appreciate the true beauty of this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNEX0fbGePg</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He’s been to her place dozens of times before, but never quite like this. When she’d told him that she loved Christmas, well this hadn’t exactly been what he pictured. For instance, the tree she’d picked out and forced him to help her carry up to her apartment, just barely fit underneath her ceiling. If she wanted any type of tree topper to go on it, she was going to have to trim about a foot off the top. But she seemed completely unbothered by its height, dragging out <em>boxes</em> of Christmas decorations he has no idea where she manages to stash the other 11 months of the year.</p>
<p>Logan makes himself useful, chasing after the discarded pine needles that have fallen all over the place with her small hand-held vacuum, all the while watching her struggle to untangle a ball of twinkle lights to wrap around the tree. After he cleans up the pine needles to the best of his ability, he moves to take the lights from her. She hands them over without argument, moving over to open a box full of assorted ornaments. They’re very mismatched, especially for her. Some look elegant and fancy, while others look homemade. The first one she pulls out and lets glitter against the sun streaming in through her rather large windows looks like it has a sports team logo on it…in rhinestones.</p>
<p>“Is that a San Diego Padres ornament?” he asks, laughing when he recognizes it.</p>
<p>She nods. “They’re my dad’s favorite team of any sport ever. Our tree back home is usually about half Padres ornaments, and half everything else. He bought me this one as a joke when I moved out here. But I proudly display it front and center every year. Makes me feel like home.”</p>
<p>“So, your family’s big on Christmas, huh?”</p>
<p>“We weren’t always,” she says, twirling the Padres ornament around in the late afternoon light. “We enjoyed it the same amount as regular people. And then my mom left.”</p>
<p>She’s always refused to talk to him about this and he wonders if this means she’s finally opening up.</p>
<p>“How old were you when that happened?” he asks.</p>
<p>“16. She was an alcoholic. Might still be, I don’t know. But she decided she’d had enough of us or something and just packed up and left one day while Dad was at work and I was at school. December rolled around and we decided we were done feeling sorry for ourselves, done blaming ourselves for making her leave. Dad came home with all of these gaudy Christmas decorations and dug out a bunch we hadn’t put up since I was a kid. Ornaments I made in pre-school, stockings with Disney characters on them, giant plastic reindeer. I remember him passing me an elf hat and telling me we were going to do this. We’re going to be the best damn two-person family there ever was. We don’t need her to be happy. We don’t need her in order to celebrate. Ever since we’ve always gone a little nuts on Christmas, even on opposite coasts. I don’t know how to turn it off.”</p>
<p>Logan manages to get the knot out of the twinkles lights and passes the string of them back to her. “Don’t turn it off. I like it.”</p>
<p>She gives him a small smile as she accepts the lights back before she turns to start roping them around the tree.</p>
<p>“My mom used to throw these huge holiday parties,” Logan offers. “You know, invite all of their celebrity friends and anyone who mattered. She was always trying to outdo herself every year. If she spent a little more money, how much more extravagant could things get? All her time and energy went into planning that party so when Christmas day itself rolled around? Pretty lackluster for us. Guess I never caught that whole holiday spirit bug.”</p>
<p>“Spend enough time with me, you’ll catch it.”</p>
<p>She stands back from the tree and frowns, examining her light placement.</p>
<p>“You’re too short,” Logan laughs. “Let me do that.”</p>
<p>“Oh, because you’re <em>so </em>much taller,” she groans, digging out another string of lights.</p>
<p>“I’m taller than you,” he tosses back. “I’d say at least by a good 10 inches.”</p>
<p>“You’re still going to need a chair or something to reach the top of the tree.”</p>
<p>“Never said I was an NBA player.”</p>
<p>In a tag-team effort, they get the rest of the lights on the tree before Veronica hangs the rhinestoned Padres ornament front and center. She turns back to the box of ornaments and pulls out a few more baseball themed ones.</p>
<p>“Is there a story to your collection of ornaments here?” he asks, watching her pull out a set of candy canes made out of supplies you’d find at a craft store.</p>
<p>“Dad and I split up our collection when I moved out here. And we tried to keep it even between the nice ones, the handmade ones, and the baseball themed ones.”</p>
<p>“So, you’re telling me I drove these things the entire way across the United States?”</p>
<p>“Umm excuse you, we took turns driving. But yes, your yellow eyesore of a vehicle got these all here safe and sound.”</p>
<p>“I feel like an accomplice,” he says, twirling a popsicle reindeer around his finger by the yarn.</p>
<p>“Be careful with that,” she says, reaching for it.</p>
<p>“Right, if you made this in pre-school it’s basically an antique by now.”</p>
<p>“We’re the same age, jackass.”</p>
<p>“You’re a couple months older.”</p>
<p>“Details,” she huffs, hanging up the reindeer.</p>
<p>“Not to poke the bear or anything, but did you ever hear from your mom again?” he asks, searching the branches for a good spot to place the golden glass orb he pulled out of the box.</p>
<p>She holds up a framed square ornament and passes it to him. A tiny Veronica in pigtails, missing her two front teeth, grins back at him, her parents sitting on either side of her. He’s seen pictures of her dad before, but never of her mom. She has her hair and maybe her smile. They look happy, unaware of the pain that would blossom in the following years.</p>
<p>“16 years of radio silence,” she says softly, hanging up a polar bear on a sled. “I don’t know where she is. Hell, I don’t even know if she’s alive.”</p>
<p>She takes the frame ornament from him and hangs it somewhere in the back. “I stopped needing her a long time ago, though. Now she’s just the face of a memory that haunts me from time to time.”</p>
<p>“I get that,” he tells her. “I was never close with my parents and there’s probably more bad memories there than good. Do you ever think about the way other people and their actions shape your life? Who your family is, who your friends are – replace them with other people and suddenly you’re another person too?”</p>
<p>“All the time,” she sighs, hanging up a ball of cotton he thinks is supposed to be a homemade snowball.</p>
<p>“What about us?”</p>
<p>“What about us?” she parrots back with a question of confusion in her tone.</p>
<p>“Do you think we’ve had an impact on each other? Would we be different people if Mac hadn’t suggested we drive cross-country together?”</p>
<p>“I’d probably be more of a workaholic than I already am without you constantly trying to drag me out of the office.”</p>
<p>“Someone’s got to do it,” he shrugs.</p>
<p>“I’d be decorating this tree alone,” she continues. “Watching late night movies without constantly being interrupted by your latest Web MD diagnosis. I certainly wouldn’t be faking orgasms in public.”</p>
<p>“So, you’re saying your life would be boring without me?”</p>
<p>She laughs, dangling a crystal angel in the setting sunlight, casting rainbows all over the floor. “Yeah, pretty much. Wouldn’t yours be without me?”</p>
<p>She has no idea what she’s done for him. The way she’s pulled him through his divorce and been there for him without really even trying. He imagines he’d still feel lost without her, feeling sorry for himself. Instead she’s breathed this new life back into him. He always feels a little more whole when she’s around.</p>
<p>“I’d be absolutely lost without you, Ronnie,” Logan tells her, digging a Pitbull wearing a Santa hat ornament out of the box.</p>
<p>He notices her hesitate, mid-decorating. “I’m starting to catch on, you know?”</p>
<p>“Catch on to what?” he asks.</p>
<p>“When you say stuff like that, you play it off like you’re joking, throw in that nickname for extra ‘I don’t mean it’ emphasis. But you <em>do</em> mean it.”</p>
<p>“You think you’ve learned how to read me, huh?”</p>
<p>She nods. “Like a book.”</p>
<p>“Hmm which book? We talking <em>Cat in the Hat </em>or <em>War and Peace</em>?”</p>
<p>“Has anyone ever actually read <em>War and Peace</em>? Or do people just like to name drop it because it’s like a million pages long?”</p>
<p>“Humor me, I’m just trying to gauge my difficulty level.”</p>
<p>Veronica hums, digging through another box until she pulls out a string of shimmering garland. “Shakespeare.”</p>
<p>“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”</p>
<p>“You’re the writer, Echolls. I’ll let you decide.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Veronica stares back at her reflection in the mirror, questioning her choice in little black dress for this New Year’s Eve party. The bell skirt has gold foil flowers printed on it and the top has a sheer lace back, with an oval cut out above her lower back. The front of the top is a bit high-necked with thin black straps. Jackie had told her it was the perfect party dress when she’d talked her into buying it a few years ago. But she’s never worn it, always finding some reason to talk herself into believing it was too revealing. Like right now as she’s reminding herself it’s winter in New York and even with a jacket she’s going to freeze in just the cab ride to the party.</p>
<p>But there’s that small part of her that wants Logan to see her in it. The part of her which lets her mind wander to thoughts of his hands slipping against her bare exposed skin at her back. The part of her wondering if he’ll kiss her at midnight since they’re each other’s date to this thing. She’s ready for him. She just doesn’t know if he’s ready for her.</p>
<p>She’s about ready to change when Logan calls her and tells her he’s outside in the cab. No going back now, this is the outfit for tonight. She shrugs into her coat, grabs her purse, and heads out the door. She slides into the back of the cab next to him, her bare legs already protesting the cold.</p>
<p>“Why do girls do that?” Logan asks, when she closes cab door behind her.</p>
<p>“Do what?”</p>
<p>“It’s below freezing, and you have all of that skin exposed. You’re going to get frostbite.”</p>
<p>She rolls her eyes. “Relax, it’s not like we’re in the frozen tundra or spending the evening outside. My legs will survive the quick walk in and out of buildings.”</p>
<p>“You’re allowed to wear pants you know. There’s no rule that says you have to wear a dress.”</p>
<p>“It’s a New Year’s Eve party! I’m not going to show up in jeans or my work pants. Excuse me for wanting to feel fancy.”</p>
<p>“You could have at least put on some tights or pantyhose or whatever you want to call them for some added warmth.”</p>
<p>“They ruin the effect,” she fake pouts. She scoots to closer to him and drapes one of her ankles across his thigh. “Why are you offended by the appearance of my skin?”</p>
<p>“I’m not. I’m merely looking out for your health,” he laughs, pushing her leg away.</p>
<p>“Uh-huh sure. In that case, you’re really going to hate the rest of this dress.”</p>
<p>She watches the way his eyes widen, and she smirks. She’s got him now.</p>
<p>“You can take the girl out of California, but can’t take the California out of the girl, huh?” he asks.</p>
<p>“Yeah, something like that.”</p>
<p>When they get to the party, she keeps her eyes on Logan as she slips out of her coat. She feels his eyes take her in, in this dress. Feels the heat of his gaze on her lower back as she turns to hand her coat and purse over to the person working the coat check.</p>
<p>“Like what you see?” she asks with a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest while she waits for him to coat check his coat.</p>
<p>“Did you pick that out just for me?” he asks, returning to her side to walk into the ballroom together.</p>
<p>Leave it to her law firm to throw the most extravagant parties. She never thought she’d be the type of person with actual New Year’s plans. She almost misses her high school and college days of small gatherings in sweats with all the junk food you could imagine. Almost.</p>
<p>“This?” Veronica asks, smoothing down her already wrinkle-free skirt. “I’ve had this for years.”</p>
<p>“Do you break it out every December 31<sup>st</sup> then?”</p>
<p>She shrugs, a non-committal answer, trying to hide the fact that she <em>did</em> wear it just for him.</p>
<p>“So, what first?” he asks. “You want to mingle, introduce me to a bunch of people? I believe I was promised an open bar. Point me in that direction.”</p>
<p>Instead she catches him off guard and grabs him by the wrist. “Dance with me.”</p>
<p>She can read the panicked expression in his eyes, feel his apprehension.</p>
<p>“Relax, Echolls. Do your hard and fast relationship rules say anything about friends not being allowed to dance together?”</p>
<p>“You forget that by my original rules, that would mean Wallace and I could share a slow dance.”</p>
<p>“I’d pay good money to see that,” she laughs, dragging him into the ballroom.</p>
<p>A couple of her coworkers do stop and chat her up for a bit on the way. Their new legal aid’s girlfriend seems way too infatuated with Logan. She fawns over him when he tells her he’s a journalist. Something which has both Veronica and Shawn, the legal aid, glaring at them in indignation.</p>
<p>Logan grins at her the entire way to the bar, teasing her about her blatant jealousy.</p>
<p>“I can’t help it that I’m so attractive,” he laughs when she glowers at him. “Or that she finds journalism so sexy. Honestly, who knew?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t bring you here so you could flirt with my coworkers.”</p>
<p>“I thought her boyfriend was the one who works at your firm.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t bring you here so could flirt with my coworkers <em>or</em> their dates,” she amends.</p>
<p>“Really? I thought this whole thing was a setup. Your attempt to find me love again.”</p>
<p>She shoots him a look.</p>
<p>“I’m kidding,” he says, raising his hands in surrender.</p>
<p>He follows her over to one of the high-top tables so they can finish their drinks before she finally convinces him to join her out on the dance floor.</p>
<p>“You could have invited a real date you know,” he tells her, picking at the label on his beer bottle. “Just because I didn’t have any plans doesn’t mean you had to entertain me. I could have tagged along with Wallace tonight.”</p>
<p>Doesn’t he get it by now? She doesn’t want to date anybody that isn’t him. The handful of dates she’s been on these past couple of months have been disastrous and all she wants to do afterwards is call him up and laugh about them with him.</p>
<p>“You’re not real?” she asks. “Have you been a figment of my imagination this whole time? So, who was driving while I slept?”</p>
<p>“You know what I mean,” he groans.</p>
<p>“No, I really don’t.”</p>
<p>He catches her gaze and then looks back down at his beer bottle.</p>
<p>“You know I’d rather spend time with you,” she adds quietly.</p>
<p>“Me? Your annoying jackass friend?”</p>
<p>“My <em>attractive </em>jackass friend,” she corrects.</p>
<p>“So, you admit it? I’m attractive?”</p>
<p>“I told you I thought that when we first met.”</p>
<p>“Yeah well, things can change.”</p>
<p>“That didn’t.”</p>
<p>He gives her a small smile before chugging the rest of his beer. “All right come on. Let’s get this whole dancing thing over with.”</p>
<p>She laughs, downing the remnants of her drink. “You say that like one dance and you’re done.”</p>
<p>“Clearly, that’s all I’ve agreed to.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think so.”</p>
<p>“Do you plan to keep me out there for the rest of the year?”</p>
<p>“Funny. New Year’s joke. Just for that, I will.”</p>
<p>More coworkers stop her to chat as she leads Logan out to the dance floor. When one of the senior partners stops her to congratulate her for her work on a case she won earlier this month, she swears she sees Logan looking at her like he couldn’t be prouder. She remembers dragging Duncan to these parties and how impatient he would get whenever someone interrupted them to praise her for her work.</p>
<p>
  <em>Obviously they appreciate you. You spend more time at the office than you do at home with me. You’re making them money and that’s what they care about.</em>
  
</p>
<p>Logan was such a sharp contrast. He’d agree with the person she was talking to, as though he’d seen her in court firsthand, which he definitely hasn’t. He was charming, proud, and not in any rush to get away from the situation. It all has her falling even harder for him.</p>
<p>She is so fucked.</p>
<p>They finally get away from all of the small talk and join the other couples out on the dance floor. She laces her arms around his neck, her right hand holding onto her left wrist. His hands come up to rest on her hips. She feels him brush his thumbs against the exposed skin of her lower back. It sends a shiver through her and she’s sure he noticed. But he keeps doing it, tracing aimless shapes and swirls in time with the beat of the music.</p>
<p>“Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?” he asks, looking down at her.</p>
<p>Their height difference has never been so obvious.</p>
<p>“Make senior partner by the time you’re 33?” he continues. “Eat at every Italian restaurant in the city before the new year’s end?”</p>
<p>“Those are both impossible,” she laughs.</p>
<p>“All right, so what’s your more realistic one?”</p>
<p>
  <em>To get you to fall in love with me. </em>
</p>
<p>“I don’t have one,” she shrugs. “Never really been big on the whole resolution thing. What about you?”</p>
<p>“I’d tell you, but then it wouldn’t come true.”</p>
<p>She snorts, rolling her eyes. “This isn’t like making a birthday wish as you blow out the candles. People share their resolutions all of the time.”</p>
<p>“Sure, they do. But how often do they make it past say…March with keeping up with it? I’ll go to the gym more, but it’s cold and work was exhausting, and I just want to lay on my couch. I’ll start eating better, but I’m lazy and the corner deli makes a better sandwich than I do. You hear the same excuses to the same resolutions every year.”</p>
<p>“Okay fine. If you make it past March will you tell me?”</p>
<p>“If I make it to December 31<sup>st</sup>, I’ll tell you.”</p>
<p>“Oh, come on.”</p>
<p>“Nope. I need this one to come true.”</p>
<p>“It’s not a wish, it’s a goal.”</p>
<p>“They’re the same thing in my book.”</p>
<p>“Your fiction book in which all life is based off of?”</p>
<p>He laughs, flattening his hands out against her back. His palms are warm against her skin and the way she has to fight not to simply curl into him…</p>
<p>“You’ll see one day,” he tells her. “You’ll read something, or watch something, and think hey – this is the story of my life.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think so.”</p>
<p>“Right, right. Didn’t you compare yourself to <em>Legally Blonde </em>a few years ago?”</p>
<p>“I was never in a sorority.”</p>
<p>“I never said it had to be an exact match.”</p>
<p>The song changes, taking on a slower pace as the time draws closer to midnight.</p>
<p>“Who would have thought I’d be spending my New Year’s Eve slow dancing with Veronica Mars?” he asks with a smile.</p>
<p>“I, for one, am shocked I got Logan Echolls to agree to it.”</p>
<p>“Hey, do you think that girl from earlier, Shawn’s girlfriend, I think? Do you think she was actually interested in me and journalism or do you think she recognized me for my famous parents?”</p>
<p>“Does it matter?”</p>
<p>“I guess not. I just never know where the actual interest lies.”</p>
<p>“I couldn’t care less who your parents were, Logan. Or what you do for a living.”</p>
<p>“You like me for me, huh?”</p>
<p>She looks up at him. “Yeah.”</p>
<p>The crowd around them starts the countdown to midnight. They’ll be surrounded by kissing couples soon and she wonders what he’s going to do. He lets go of her waist and tugs on her arm, leading her toward the balcony.</p>
<p>“Are you trying to give me actual frostbite?” she asks.</p>
<p>He shrugs out of his suit coat and drapes it around her shoulders before leading her outside. It smells like him and she starts to wonder when it was that she realized what that smells like.</p>
<p>“Just thought we didn’t need to be around that,” he shrugs, gesturing over his shoulder as the crowd cheers and everyone starts kissing behind them. He bends his head and kisses her cheek. “Happy New Year.”</p>
<p><em>He’s still hurting</em>, she thinks. <em>But he’s trying</em>.</p>
<p>“Happy New Year,” she says in return, tentatively curling into his side, hoping she can pass it off as wanting the extra warmth.</p>
<p>He returns her embrace, holding her against his side as they look out over the city.</p>
<p>“No matter how long I’ve lived here, I never get tired of views like this,” she tells him.</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s pretty incredible.”</p>
<p>She thinks he might have been looking down at her when he said that, but she’s too afraid to look up at him and find out. What are the chances that <em>she’s</em> his secret New Year’s Resolution? That next year he’ll guide her out here at midnight and tell her it’s been her all along and kiss her and –</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh, for fucks sake, Veronica. Your life isn’t an actual romantic comedy. </em>
</p>
<p>“Are we still getting lunch on Tuesday?” she asks.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I still have that interview for an article lined up in your office’s neck of the woods. I’ll come drag you away from your work when I’m done.”</p>
<p>“I’ll be sure to kick and scream the entire time.”</p>
<p>“New year, same Veronica.”</p>
<p>“Please, like you actually want me to change.”</p>
<p>“Wouldn’t dream of it, Ronnie.”</p>
<p>She starts to shiver and he makes a move to lead her back inside to the party.</p>
<p>“Five more minutes?” she asks. “I’m not ready to rejoin the masses yet.”</p>
<p>His arms tighten around her in response. “Okay, but if you get a cold from this, I don’t want to hear any complaints.”</p>
<p>“Does that mean you won’t bring me soup?”</p>
<p>“Depends on how pathetic you sound when you call me asking.”</p>
<p>She laughs, tugging the sleeves of his suit jacket down over her hands. “There’s my jackass best friend.”</p>
<p>“New year, same Logan,” he says, joining her in laughter.</p>
<p>“I’d expect nothing less.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This song has nothing to do with this chapter, but Taylor Swift released it yesterday and it screams season 3 Logan and Veronica. Give it a listen if you want to get caught up in all the LoVe angst feels. The song is called exile and features Bon Iver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdoLjUNFnA</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s a dumb idea. A dumb, stupid ass idea. But she’s hoping it’s just dumb enough to nudge him in the right direction. Because this whole waiting for him to be ready thing? It’s starting to take a toll on her. There are only so many ways to pretend he didn’t just catch her staring at his lips.</p>
<p>“What are you trying to prove, Veronica?” Logan asks when she brings up the idea to him.</p>
<p>She knew he wouldn’t like it; knew he would question her motives. A part of her wonders if he can see right through her scheme. How well does he know her, after all?</p>
<p>“Jackie is always setting me up on blind dates, it’s about time I return the favor,” she tells him innocently.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but does the guy have to be me?”</p>
<p>“You’re the most eligible, worthy guy I know. You can set me up with one of your friends and we can double.”</p>
<p>“You’re certifiably insane.”</p>
<p>“Opposing council tells me the same thing,” she says with a wink.</p>
<p>Is it a risk to set her two best friends up on a date? Not at all. She knows Jackie and she knows Logan. They’ll never hit it off. Not like she and Logan do. But she’s hoping that if she can get him dating again, maybe he’ll finally be open to dating her. She’s willing to try anything at this point.</p>
<p>He reluctantly agrees after much pestering from her, inviting his friend Wallace he’s always talking about along on this...whatever this is. At the restaurant, she sits with Logan on her right, Wallace on her left, and Jackie straight across from her. And it’s extremely awkward, no one knowing what to say.</p>
<p>When she can’t take the silence anymore, she clears her throat and turns to Wallace. “So, how did you and Logan meet?”</p>
<p>“I’m the sportswriter for <em>The Daily</em>,” Wallace replies.</p>
<p>Another long pause of awkward silence.</p>
<p>“And you and Veronica?” Logan asks, addressing Jackie.</p>
<p>“We were neighbors when she first moved here,” Jackie tells him.</p>
<p>Back to no one talking. Okay well, this is an absolute disaster.</p>
<p>“Wallace, you said you were a sportswriter?” Jackie asks after a beat. “My dad used to play professional baseball.”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah?” Wallace asks, perking up a little. “Who’s your dad? Which team?”</p>
<p>“Terrance Cook.”</p>
<p>“For the Mets,” Jackie and Wallace say at the same time.</p>
<p>They both laugh at their unison response and get wrapped up in a conversation about baseball.</p>
<p>Logan leans in toward Veronica. “Were we setting them up?”</p>
<p>“Apparently,” she sighs.</p>
<p>“Are we just here to chaperone them, or?”</p>
<p>“Seems that way.”</p>
<p>“If you thought our friends would hit it off, why didn’t you just say that instead of making it seem like <em>we</em> were supposed to be on a date with them?”</p>
<p>She doesn’t have an answer. Not one that doesn’t make her sound insane. But she knew this was a dumb idea from the start.</p>
<p>“Oh you know me, I always have to do things the hard way,” she tells him with a shrug.</p>
<p>Logan chuckles, shifting back in his seat and reaching for his water glass.</p>
<p>Well, at least their friends are happy.</p><hr/>
<p>About a month or so later, Wallace and Jackie decide to move in together. Logan thinks they’re moving a little too fast for his taste, but who is he to judge when he and Veronica have been playing the long game for as long as they have? And truly, Wallace and Jackie seem to be perfect for each other. He’s surprised they didn’t try and introduce them to each other months ago.</p>
<p>And now he and Veronica are back out perusing furniture stores together again. Not for him this time, but to find their friends a nice housewarming present.</p>
<p>“What about this?” she asks, holding up a remote control associated with a sound system.</p>
<p>“Oh no, Wallace already has a high-quality sound system that he absolutely refuses to part with,” Logan explains.</p>
<p>“You’ve turned down all of my suggestions. If they both already have everything they need, why are we even here? Can’t we just buy them a nice bottle of wine or something?”</p>
<p>“No, come on, there has to be something good here. We’ll find it.”</p>
<p>“Something they’ll just bring out every time we come over and chuck back into storage after we leave? We don’t need to help them decorate.”</p>
<p>“You say that like we’re not allowed to visit separately.”</p>
<p>“We’re always together anyway,” she mumbles, pressing the play button on one of the sound system displays and jumping when Aerosmith starts blasting at full volume.</p>
<p>He laughs at her, slipping by her to see what’s in the next aisle over. What he sees in that aisle is the very last thing he’d expect, and it freezes him in his tracks. He feels like all of the wind has been knocked out of him. He can’t breathe, how does that work again?</p>
<p>“Logan, what if we just get them something simple like a wine rack?” Veronica asks, coming up behind him.</p>
<p>He can feel her gaze on him, studying him.</p>
<p>“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she tells him. “What’s wrong?”</p>
<p>“Kiss me,” he says, rougher than he intended to.</p>
<p>Her eyebrows nearly shoot right off her forehead. “What?”</p>
<p>“It’s Carrie,” he explains, gesturing with his shoulder in his ex-wife’s direction. “And she’s with the kitchen guy.”</p>
<p>Veronica starts to turn in their direction. </p>
<p>“No, don’t look!” he tells her. “You’ll give us away.”</p>
<p>“And me kissing you accomplishes what, exactly?”</p>
<p>“If she comes this way, it has to look real. <em>We</em> have to look real.”</p>
<p>“There you go again, with this real stuff. Seriously, have I been hallucinating you this entire time?”</p>
<p>“Veronica, <em>please</em>,” he begs, as Carrie and Troy start to turn down the aisle.</p>
<p>Without any more hesitation, she grabs him by the face and pulls his mouth down to meet hers. This is not how he pictured kissing her for the first time would go. Certainly not in the middle of a furniture store, while fake dating for the benefit of his ex-wife. But kissing her? It makes him greedy. He forgets where they are and why they’re here and before he realizes he’s doing it, he’s deepening the kiss, getting her to part her lips for him. His fingers are tangled in her hair and he’s subconsciously backed her up against the shelves filled with mason jars, the glass rattling together when her back hits it.</p>
<p>Somewhere in the back of his mind, there’s a voice telling him that this is excessive. Who just starts going at it like this out of nowhere in the middle of the home décor section? He’s lucky none of these mason jars fell on their heads, with the force he had of pushing her up against the shelves that hold them. But she’s so pliant underneath his touch. She lets him take, lets him put on this show for whose benefit he’s not even sure anymore. Her fingers pull at the hair at the nape of his neck and he realizes he wants to taste her skin, to kiss his way down her neck and over her shoulder.</p>
<p>The mason jars rattle again and he’s pretty sure he just heard her moan against his mouth, and that’s when he realizes his hips have entered into this little tête-à-tête on their own volition. Okay this is definitely more of a show than he was bargaining to give Carrie, but wow he <em>does not</em> want to stop kissing her.</p>
<p>He hears someone clear their throat, Carrie he thinks, and he reluctantly pulls back from Veronica. She stares up at him with wide eyes, her face flushed, before ducking her head in embarrassment when Carrie starts talking.</p>
<p>“Logan,” Carrie says, by way of greeting. “It’s been a while.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s been a minute,” he agrees, draping an arm across Veronica’s shoulders as she curls into his side.</p>
<p>“You remember Troy,” she says, awkwardly, her eyes shooting daggers at Veronica.</p>
<p>“I do,” he nods. “I do indeed. This is my girlfriend, Veronica.”</p>
<p>Veronica gives her a little wave.</p>
<p>“You two seem…cozy,” Carrie says, her tone clipped.</p>
<p>“We are,” Veronica says, smoothing a hand up his chest. “This guy,” she starts, leaning forward and cupping a hand around the side of her mouth like she’s about to share a secret. “Best sex of my life.”</p>
<p><em>Jesus, Veronica</em>.</p>
<p>Logan doesn’t know whether to thank her or hide from embarrassment. But by the look Carrie is giving them, he thinks he should be thanking her.</p>
<p>“Where did you two meet?” Carrie asks, crossing her arms over her chest, like she doesn’t buy their whole act.  </p>
<p>“Oh, we’ve known each other for years,” Veronica grins, looking up at him. “We actually moved to New York together from California. A mutual friend arranged that little road trip. We lost touch after the move but found each other again about a year or so ago. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”</p>
<p>Logan smiles back down at her, reaching out to brush some of her hair off of her face. “Serendipity you might say.”</p>
<p>Carrie nods curtly. “Well, you look good, Logan. We should get coffee sometime. Catch up.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Is she fucking serious? </em>
</p>
<p>“Nah, I’m good,” he tells her.</p>
<p>“You’re good?” she asks back, knitting her eyebrows together.</p>
<p>“We don’t need to catch up. You’ve moved on, I’ve moved on. What’s past is past.”</p>
<p>Carrie smooths down the front of her shirt, stepping closer to him and away from Troy who stands awkwardly behind her, pretending to be fascinated by a bottle of chalkboard paint.</p>
<p>“I miss you,” she tells him.</p>
<p>Veronica tightens her grip on his side.</p>
<p>“Tough isn’t it?” Logan asks. “Having regrets?”</p>
<p>Her eyes flicker down to Veronica. “Can you excuse us? This is a private conversation.”</p>
<p>Veronica clucks her tongue. “No, I don’t think I will.”</p>
<p>“This matter doesn’t concern you.”</p>
<p>“Oh, it doesn’t?” she asks, slipping away from his side. “I seem to recall him telling you that we’re dating now. That he’s moved on. You trying to waltz right over here and poach my boyfriend? That seems like a matter that concerns me.”</p>
<p>Oh, he likes protective!Veronica. She’s feisty.</p>
<p>Carrie rolls her eyes, taking a few steps back in Troy’s direction. “Call me when your slutty side-piece isn’t around. We can have a real adult conversation about this.”</p>
<p>“Oh, you did <em>not</em> just –” Veronica starts, acting like she’s ready to lunge at her and start a cat fight. Logan tugs on her arm, keeping her anchored at his side.</p>
<p>“It’s over, Carrie,” he tells her. “It’s time to accept the consequences of your shitty actions. We’re done. For good.”</p>
<p>Carrie huffs and turns on her heel, walking back toward Troy. She makes a big display of kissing him and the guy seems more flustered than anything about it. She maintains eye contact with Logan as she practically drags a confused Troy away from them.</p>
<p>He feels Veronica’s hand at the small of his back when they’re out of sight. “You okay?”</p>
<p>
  <em>Far from it.</em>
</p>
<p>“I’m fine,” he tells her.</p>
<p>“L –”</p>
<p>“You said something about a wine rack?” he asks.</p>
<p>“Look, we don’t –”</p>
<p>“I’m fine, Ronnie. Let’s just go pick something out so we’re not late to their housewarming party.”</p>
<p>She follows him as he stalks down the aisle. “You realize that you only use that nickname anymore when you’re lying, right?”</p>
<p>“Not lying. Things are over with Carrie. I’m fine.”</p>
<p>“You’re not fine.”</p>
<p>He spins around to look at her, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Stop – reading me so well. I don’t want to talk about it, okay? Let’s just go.”</p>
<p>He doesn’t immediately hear her footsteps behind him when he turns back to walk away and he worries he’s fucked this up now too. But she falls back in line with him, carrying a decorative throw pillow.</p>
<p>“What’s that?” he asks.</p>
<p>“Jackie hates throw pillows,” she tells him.</p>
<p>“Then why –”</p>
<p>“Old inside joke.”</p>
<p>He waits for her to buy it before hailing a taxi to take them to the new place now shared by their friends. They’re quiet the whole ride there. They don’t talk about the kiss or about his ex or about well…anything. Their avoidance of one another extends as they enter into Jackie and Wallace’s new place. Veronica heads straight for Jackie, thrusting the throw pillow in her direction, both women busting out laughing at the sight of it.</p>
<p>“What’s so funny about a pillow?” Wallace asks, closing the front door behind Logan.</p>
<p>“Hell, if I know.”</p>
<p>Their friends give them the grand tour of the place. It’s a nice little Brownstone in Brooklyn and he assumes her professional athlete father’s money helped pay for it. After all, he <em>knows</em> what Wallace is making at <em>The Daily</em>. No judgment. He’s got his deceased actor parents to thank for his current digs.</p>
<p>He watches Jackie hop around with excitement as she reveals her ideas for decorating. He watches Wallace watch her with that amused, dopey smile that screams that he’s in love with her. They’re so happy, in love. He kind of hates it.</p>
<p>He and Carrie were like that once. Happy to be moving in together, excited to be getting married. As in love with their new little home as they were with each other until they got the bright idea to redo their kitchen.</p>
<p>“I’m thinking about getting the countertops replaced,” he hears Jackie say. “Looking for something a bit more modern.”</p>
<p>“Don’t do it,” Logan tells her.</p>
<p>“You like these ones?” she asks, confused.</p>
<p>“Logan,” Veronica hisses. Because she <em>knows </em>him. Of course she does. She must have no problem reading Shakespeare whatsoever.</p>
<p>“It starts with the countertops,” he explains. “And then you have to replace all of the handles and knobs on the cabinets, so they match the countertops. And then your fridge is too out of date in your newly modern kitchen and you’ll go 15 rounds over the best location for a freezer on a new refrigerator until in the middle of this mundane argument you’ll blurt you’re fucking the guy you hired to install the new countertops. And then you’ll go another 15 rounds with the divorce lawyers tearing apart every single possession you’ve ever owned together.”</p>
<p>“Logan!” Veronica pushes him in the direction of the small backyard Wallace had just been showing off before Jackie got excited about her future kitchen plans. “Outside. Now.”</p>
<p>He storms out past her, listening as she profusely apologizes about him to their friends like he’s her responsibility or some shit. He doesn’t appreciate being treated like a child.</p>
<p>She joins him outside, already yelling before the backdoor even closes. “I’d ask if you were drunk, but I’ve been with you all day and I know for a fact that you’re not. Your marriage problems are not theirs.”</p>
<p>“Oh, here we go.”</p>
<p>“You want to say something to me? Just say it. I don’t know if you’re pissed at Carrie or me or both of us, but sulking around yelling at Jackie that changing the countertops in her kitchen will ruin her whole life is accomplishing nothing.”</p>
<p>“You think you have me all figured out, don’t you? That I’m that easy to read. But you don’t. It’s not that black and white, Veronica. I’m not pissed at anyone specifically. I’m just <em>pissed off</em>. At everything. At all of it. That five years of marriage can so easily be tossed out like garbage. That I used to be as happy and as in love once as those two are.” Logan gestures back toward house. “That I was doing fine without her. I was great actually. And then I spend five minutes around her and suddenly I’m back in that deep-rooted place of anger and she just makes me so fucking mad. And you don’t get it. You’ve never been married. You haven’t felt those fireworks before having a tidal wave swoop in and put them out. Stop trying to pretend you understand where I’m coming from.”</p>
<p>She crosses her arms over her chest. “You done?”</p>
<p>He looks over at her and meets her gaze. “Yeah. Sorry.”</p>
<p>“I know I’ve only spent like five minutes with her, but I knew girls like Carrie in high school. She’s trying to get under your skin like that on purpose. It’s a game to her. And not in the same way it is for you and me.”</p>
<p>“So, you and I are playing a game now, is that what you want to call it?”</p>
<p>“How else would you describe it, Logan? We don’t have a normal friendship. Far from it.”</p>
<p>“Do you want a normal friendship?” he asks, hesitantly.</p>
<p>“No!” She adverts her gaze to the ground. “You know what I want.”</p>
<p>He does. He knows. Hell, he <em>felt</em> it back in that aisle surrounded by mason jars and chalkboard paint. And he knows she’s been holding back. That bet of theirs is long forgotten. She’d happily lose if it meant that she could have him. But he’s such a screw up and she knows that, doesn’t she? He can’t risk losing her.</p>
<p>He needs her.</p>
<p>“Veronica –”</p>
<p>“Do you want me, Logan? Do you want me the same way I want you? Because I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep waiting around for you to be ready for me. I can’t pretend to be your girlfriend for five minutes and kiss you <em>like that</em> and then just ignore it like it never happened.”</p>
<p>“Look, you’re my best friend and –”</p>
<p>“Stop,” she cuts him off, shaking her head. “You don’t just go around kissing your best friend like you need them the same way you need oxygen.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to lose you,” he tries again, hoping he’ll get her to understand.</p>
<p>She shakes her head again. “I’m not Carrie. When are you going to understand that?”</p>
<p>He knows she’s nothing like his ex-wife. She’s her polar opposite in nearly every way. And he loves her for it, he does.</p>
<p>Holy fuck.</p>
<p><em>He loves her</em>.</p>
<p>“Veronica, you’re the most important person in my life right now, don’t you get that?”</p>
<p>“I thought I did. But if that meant what I thought it does, you wouldn’t have to worry about scaring me away. You’d know that you have me.”</p>
<p>“I’m losing you right now, aren’t I?” he asks softly, kicking at a pebble near his foot.</p>
<p>“Logan,” she starts, stepping closer to him. “I need you in my life, all right? Nobody else calls me out on my own shit like you do. Nobody else…understands aspects of my personality the way you do. And if you don’t want to date me, that’s okay. But I need to start dating again. I can’t keep waiting around for you. And now I owe you $100. But at least I’ve proven my other point that men and women <em>can</em> just be friends.”</p>
<p>No, no, he’s hurting her, he never meant to do that. He swears he can the sheen of tears in her eyes. </p>
<p>“This isn’t about the money anymore.”</p>
<p>“I know it’s not,” she tells him. “But if you don’t want me in that way, I need to find somebody who does.”</p>
<p>He wants her in that way. In home décor aisles and New Year’s Eve parties and long road trips where the interstate hotel only has one bed left.</p>
<p>
  <em>Just tell her, you idiot. Don’t agree to this. Veronica won’t hurt you like Carrie did. </em>
</p>
<p>But Carrie had never meant to hurt him in the beginning either.</p>
<p>“You deserve happiness, Veronica. And all of the mutual fireworks in the world.”</p>
<p>She gives him a small smile. “So do you, Logan. Don’t forget that.”</p>
<p>He’s always thought that men and women could never be friends because sex always gets in the way. But he had never anticipated <em>love</em> to be the thing getting in his own way.</p>
<p>He’d wish that he would have met Veronica before he met Carrie so he wouldn’t be having these doubts about losing her in the first place. But the thing is, he <em>did</em> meet Veronica before he met Carrie. They were both just too young and stubborn to do anything about it.</p>
<p>He’s going to fix this. He’s not going to let Veronica be the one who got away.</p>
<p>Again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know, I know. These two are the absolute worst at communicating. But so were Harry and Sally. Stick with me. I have big plans for the next chapter ;) If you know the movie, you know what part we're at...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Jackie and Wallace decide to host a game night a few weeks later, Veronica decides to bring a date and encourages Logan to do the same. She ends up bringing this over eager guy she met in line at a coffee shop of all places. Piz is a radio DJ and completely wrong for her in every way. Which is exactly why she chooses to invite him to this game night when he won’t stop chatting her up while they wait for their coffees.</p>
<p>She’s not sure where Logan found Parker. She’s very…peppy. Gives off a vibe like she was a cheerleader in high school or something. She’s not his type. But of course that conclusion is based entirely off of her considering herself to be his type. Which at this point, she very well may not be.</p>
<p>But she can’t stop thinking about their kiss, no matter how hard she tries. You can’t fake something like that. He’d wanted her. Felt like he would have taken her right there in that damn aisle full of cutesy home décor items. And she was practically ready to let him.</p>
<p>How long had she spent wondering what kissing him would be like? How he’d taste? How he’d hold her? She felt like she was 15 again, pining after the guy at school who was never going to notice her. But they’re adults damn it. She shouldn’t be acting like some lovestruck teen wasting her Friday nights waiting around for a boy to call.</p>
<p>So, she invites this Piz guy to this game night thing. And he seems…almost awestruck by her? It’s weird. And it sort of creeps her out.</p>
<p>And then there’s Parker over there, giggling at nearly everything Logan tells her. He’s not that funny. Truly. He’s good for a few one liners, but after that you just sort of want to smack him and tell him to shut up. And she should know – she knows him better than anyone at this point.</p>
<p>Or at least she thought she did. These days she’s not so sure.</p>
<p>When they start playing Pictionary and she and Logan end up on the same team because well, Jackie <em>is</em> Jackie, no one else on their team even stands a chance to guess when it’s one of their turns to draw. He’s up there drawing half-assed pictures of fireworks, causing her to immediately guess the phrase ‘love at first sight,’ resulting in confused amazement from their teammates. She attempts to draw a picture of her office building and he guesses the movie title <em>Legally Blonde</em> almost immediately. They’re still on the same wavelength at least, even if everything else is off about them.</p>
<p>When Piz continues to chat her up later while she pours herself her second glass of wine, she becomes very aware of the fact that Logan is watching them. Piz touches her arm and Logan looks ready to come over and deck the guy. He’s <em>jealous</em>. That son-of-a-bitch. He doesn’t want her, but no one else can have her either? She leans into flirting with Piz even harder then, pretending to be as giggly and peppy as Parker was with Logan earlier. And <em>oh</em>, Logan really does not like that. He’s practically fuming.</p>
<p>Parker wanders back over to him, offering him a beer of one of the few brands he refuses to drink. And the fucker drinks it, staring Veronica down the entire time because he knows she knows he hates it. Unbelievable. She keeps staring right past Piz’s head, holding Logan’s gaze as she teasingly skims her fingers down Piz’s arm. Logan retaliates by brushing a stray strand of hair off of Parker’s forehead.</p>
<p>She’s about to do something she’s sure she’ll regret when Jackie appears at her side and tugs on her arm.</p>
<p>“Veronica, can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?”</p>
<p>She huffs, shooting another glare at Logan as she follows her friend away, hating the way he greets her glare with one of those stupid ass smirks.</p>
<p>“Stop it,” Jackie tells her, when they’re out of earshot, smacking her on the arm.</p>
<p>“Ow,” Veronica complains, rubbing at her arm. “What was that for? Stop what?”</p>
<p>“You and Logan. Making angry eye sex at each other across the room while you lead on those strays you both brought.”</p>
<p>Veronica starts nearly choking on her own air. They’ve been <em>that</em> noticeable?</p>
<p>She clears her throat. “Strays?”</p>
<p>“Well, I sure as hell didn’t invite them.”</p>
<p>“Jackie –”</p>
<p>“Why don’t you just sleep with him already?”</p>
<p>She scrubs a hand through her hair. “He doesn’t want it to ruin our friendship.”</p>
<p>“V, at this point, your friendship is already ruined.”</p>
<p>No, no, she won’t accept that. If their friendship is ruined that means she’s lost him. That had never been her goal.</p>
<p>“He’s a jackass,” Veronica mutters.</p>
<p>“So, I’ve heard.”</p>
<p>“And I’m in love with him.”</p>
<p>“So, I’ve seen.”</p>
<p>She looks at her friend, feeling helpless. “What am I supposed to do?”</p>
<p>“Did you try, oh I don’t know, talking to him?”</p>
<p>“Yeah and it only made things worse.”</p>
<p>“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” Jackie tells her. “You won’t lose him for long.”</p>
<p>Too bad it already feels like he’s long gone.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It’s nearly 1 AM when he sees his phone light up with her name. His first thought is to panic that she’s hurt or that something went terribly wrong with that Piz guy she brought to the party earlier. She’s never up this late. Not unless they’re watching some weird TV movie together while talking on the phone.</p>
<p>He abandons his toothbrush, spits out his mouthful of toothpaste, and answers the phone in a rush.</p>
<p>“Veronica?”</p>
<p>He thinks he hears her sniffle on the other line. “Can you come over?”</p>
<p>Holy shit is this a booty call?</p>
<p>
  <em>Get yourself together, Echolls. She sounds like she’s been crying. </em>
</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” he asks.</p>
<p>“He’s getting married.”</p>
<p>Shit, he can hear the tears in her voice now. She’s clearly upset. About uhhh –</p>
<p>“Who’s getting married?”</p>
<p>The Piz guy? No, no, why would she care about him like this, that doesn’t make sense. Who else?</p>
<p>“Duncan,” comes her soft reply.</p>
<p><em>Oh</em>. Oh no. Duncan who never wanted to get married, but really just didn’t want to marry her. That guy always had been a bit of a jerk.</p>
<p>“I’ll be right over,” he tells her.</p>
<p>He throws on a T-shirt, locates some shoes, and runs out the door, not bothering to change out of his plaid pajama pants. He has to walk a couple blocks to find a taxi but flags down the first one he sees and directs the driver to Veronica’s address.</p>
<p>She answers the door draped in a bathrobe, her hair still damp from the shower and curling over her shoulders. Did he know she had naturally wavy/curly hair? Her eyes are rimmed red from crying and her cheeks are puffy. He hates seeing her in pain like this. He’d never wanted her to feel the way Carrie had made him feel.</p>
<p>“I was over him,” she says by way of greeting. “Why am I so upset about this?”</p>
<p>Logan pulls her in for a hug, walking them backwards into her apartment and closing the door behind him. He smooths a hand down the back of her hair, while she buries her face in his shirt. He really hopes he picked out a clean one.  </p>
<p>“You have every right to be upset,” he tells her. “He was someone you cared about and he lied to you.”</p>
<p>She huffs against him, pulling away and pacing back into her bedroom. He follows her without question, sitting on the edge of her bed when she collapses on top of it, curling herself up into a ball.</p>
<p>“Why didn’t he want me?” she asks. “What’s wrong with me?”</p>
<p>He knows she’s talking about Duncan. Talking about how he told her he wasn’t the marrying type only to turn around and ask someone else to marry him. But he hears the words as though she’s talking about him.</p>
<p>
  <em>Do you want me the same way I want you?</em>
</p>
<p>Now, he fixes this now.</p>
<p>“Absolutely nothing,” he tells her, skimming a hand down her back.</p>
<p>She shifts back up into a seated position staring at him with those swimming pool blue eyes. He wants to kiss her again. Kiss her without an audience and the threat of rattling mason jars. Kiss her until she realizes there’s not a damn thing wrong with her.</p>
<p>“Logan,” she says softly. “Why did you take a cab halfway across town at one in the morning just to comfort me about my ex?”</p>
<p>“It’s what friends do,” he shrugs.</p>
<p>She shakes her head. “No. It isn’t.”</p>
<p>He’s kissing her then. The press of his lips soft and gentle against hers. She doesn’t shy away from him, but she doesn’t demand more either. She’s letting him lead. He threads his fingers through her still wet locks of hair, holding her head in place. She takes that as the invitation she needed and opens her to mouth to him like she had at the furniture store.</p>
<p>Logan drinks her in, tasting the red wine she had earlier still lingering on her tongue and the salt from her tears that had previously trailed down over her lips. He nips at her with his teeth, just to see how she’ll respond. Favorably, apparently, and she grunts and nips him back in return.</p>
<p>He loves kissing her like this, but he’s craving for more of her. He has since the very beginning when she first hopped into his Xterra. She’s beautiful and she wants him and –</p>
<p>“Veronica?”</p>
<p>She stares at him out from under her eyelashes, her eyes hooded, and her lips slightly swollen <em>from him</em>.</p>
<p>“What do you want?” he asks, twirling a strand of her hair around his index finger.</p>
<p>“You.”</p>
<p>Her lips are on him again and she’s the one taking this time. He’s glad he at least started the process of brushing his teeth earlier. Logan lets one of his hands fall to her thigh, skimming his fingertips up toward the hem of her robe. He pulls his mouth away from hers to bite and kiss his way down her neck and over her shoulder, pushing the fabric down her arm in the process. He finds a spot on her neck that has her absolutely keening, her fingers lacing behind his neck to keep him there.</p>
<p>He chuckles to himself about this newfound knowledge of her sweet spot, licking a path from it up to her ear. He realizes that she’s not wearing anything underneath this robe, and that his thin pajama pants are no help at disguising the arousal that sends through him.</p>
<p>Logan skims his fingers higher, dragging his knuckles across her sex. <em>Oh</em>, she’s wet. Wet for <em>him</em>. He drags his knuckles across her again before skimming his fingers up her stomach to untie the belt just barely keeping her robe on at this point. She helps him get her out of it before tossing it to the floor.</p>
<p>Did he mention how beautiful she was?</p>
<p>Veronica starts tugging on his shirt and he moves to lift it off over his head. Her hands explore his skin, tracing over the outlines of his muscles and the tiny scars she comes across. She chases after her fingertips with her mouth and <em>fuck</em> he’s going to combust just from her doing that. Her lips are at the waistband of his pants now, the gorgeous line of her naked back and ass displayed out in front of him. He groans when she hooks her fingers into the waistband and pulls the pants down off of him. He groans again when her lips find his cock. His hands fist into her hair when she takes him into her mouth.</p>
<p>Ho. Ly. Fuck. That thing she’s doing with her tongue. She’s gotta stop. He’s going to – not yet, too soon, he’s – fuck.</p>
<p>“Ronica?”</p>
<p>She releases him from her mouth with a wet pop, wiping at the corner of her mouth her thumb, and staring up at him with those same hooded eyes under her lashes. Her eye color seems impossibly darker, like the sun had set on the swimming pool casting shadows out across the water.</p>
<p>“I came here to comfort <em>you</em>, remember?” he asks.</p>
<p>He watches confusion fill her eyes which quickly gets replaced by understanding as he slides off the bed to kneel on the floor. His hands cover her thighs and drag her toward the edge, until his mouth is right in line with her clit. He leans forward and licks a path up through her opening and over her clit. She sucks in a sharp breath in response. He repeats the motion again, feeling her eyes on him, watching him, mesmerized by him.</p>
<p>He starts interspersing quick little flicks of his tongue against her clit between his long and slow licks through her folds. It’s frustrating her, he can tell. Good. Teasing her has always been his most absolute favorite pastime, it only makes sense that it would extend to the bedroom as well.</p>
<p>She starts rolling her hips against his mouth. She needs more to get off, all he’s doing is working her up right now, making her even wetter. He changes his tactics and starts sucking on her, causing her to gasp and moan on a loop as he pays more and more attention to right where she wants it the most. He can tell she’s close and being the asshole that she knows and loves, he turns his head and starts nibbling at her inner thigh.</p>
<p>“You’re a dead man, Echolls,” she grumbles, trying to nudge his head back with her knee.</p>
<p>“What a way to go,” he laughs against her skin, kissing his way back to her clit. “There are worse ways to die.”</p>
<p>“Logan,” she grits his name out in frustration and he laughs again, resuming what he started.</p>
<p>She’s moaning again the second his mouth is back where she wants it. He takes it up a notch, sliding a finger inside of her. Fuck she’s so wet and ready for him. He adds a second finger, curling them up against her in a steady rhythm in time with his tongue. She’s mewling, panting, rocking her hips into his movements. He’s pretty sure her fists are curling into the fabric of her sheets and her back is arching higher and higher off the bed, the closer she gets.</p>
<p>He thinks back to that conversation they’d had in that diner months ago.  </p>
<p>
  <em>I mean, really truly, I know how to go down on a woman. And I enjoy it. And so do they.</em>
</p>
<p>“Fuck, Logan,” she’s cursing his name, and she’s there, she’s right there.</p>
<p>
  <em>Do you know what that’s like, Veronica? Has anyone ever given you really good oral sex? You know, the kind that makes your toes curl and your thighs shake? It makes your back arch right off the bed, maybe you even squirt a little. Have you ever squirted, Veronica?</em>
</p>
<p>One more twist of his wrist and flick of his tongue and she comes for him. Hard. The toe curling, thigh shaking, back arching, and was that – maybe even a little squirting – kind. She collapses back on the bed as he stands up, admiring how flushed she looks and the way her breasts rise and fall as she tries to regulate her breathing.</p>
<p>“I told you I was good at that,” he says with a smirk.</p>
<p>“I never doubted you,” she sighs, propping herself back up on her elbows.</p>
<p>“I also seem to recall you telling me that you prefer to be on top.”</p>
<p>She grins at him and he catches himself thinking yet again about how beautiful she is. He starts to crawl toward her on the bed, kissing her again, when she pushes on his shoulders, guiding him onto his back. She moves to straddle his hips, stroking her hand up and down his shaft a couple of times before positioning herself over him.</p>
<p>Veronica leans forward and whispers against his ear. “You’re right. I do like being on top.”</p>
<p>She slowly guides herself down on to him and he swears he stops breathing when she bottoms out. She feels so damn good around him.</p>
<p>Logan skims his fingers up her sides, palming her breasts as she starts to find her pace riding him. God, she’s incredible. This is what he’s been missing out on for the past, what has it been now, nearly 12 years? The way she twists her hips and those breathy little moans she keeps making and fuck he needs more, he needs to be back in control.</p>
<p>He uses his thighs to squeeze her hips and flip them so she’s on her back now. She starts to protest, but it melts away when he takes over, pistoning his hips into her at a rapid pace. She’s making those same noises like she had at the diner that night she was faking an orgasm for show. But he can hear the difference now. She’s throatier when it’s real, more guttural. And she swears more. <em>A lot </em>more.</p>
<p>Her nails are digging into his back and her heels are pressing against his ass and he knows she’s almost ready to come again. He bends his head and finds that spot on her neck again that had her keening earlier. A couple more seconds like that and she shatters, his name caught in her throat as she breaks apart. Watching her fall apart beneath him, does him in too, and after a couple more thrusts he’s joining her in his own blissed out orgasm.</p>
<p>Logan rolls off to her side, watching her continue to catch her breath. He wants her like this all of the time. Naked and screaming his name and <em>his</em>.</p>
<p>But <em>fuck</em>, this changes everything doesn’t it? They’ve seen each other naked. He’s been <em>inside</em> of her. He and Veronica – he and his <em>best friend</em> – they –</p>
<p>He pushes himself up into a seated position, his legs swung over the side of the bed, his head swirling with the reality of the situation. It hadn’t been his intention to come over here and comfort her with his dick. Or even with his mouth really. She’d been upset and she’d needed him and now –</p>
<p>He feels Veronica at his back, pressing against him as her arms drape down over his shoulders.</p>
<p>“You’re not leaving, are you?” she asks, her voice quiet, timid.</p>
<p>“You also told me once that you don’t like to be held after sex,” he reminds her, scrambling for a reason to go home and think without getting lost in her eyes again.</p>
<p>She dips her head and kisses his shoulder, kissing a path up his neck, and he groans in appreciation.</p>
<p>“The sex has never been that good before,” she purrs against his ear. “My fake dating lie to Carrie was apparently the truth.”</p>
<p>He wants to stay. Wrapped up in her and her sheets and that intoxicating mouth of hers.</p>
<p>“You realized we just crossed the line, don’t you?” he asks, softly.</p>
<p>She laughs, dropping her chin to rest on his shoulder. “What do you want, a medal? Fine. Point proven. Men and women can’t be just friends. I’ll pay you $200 if it makes you feel better.”</p>
<p>“I liked having you as a friend.”</p>
<p>He feels the cool air rush back against his back, her warmth no longer hovering near him.</p>
<p>“I’m still your friend, Logan.”</p>
<p>He turns around to look at her, crawling back in her direction.</p>
<p>“Of course you are,” he says in a rush. “That’s not what I meant.”</p>
<p>Ice blue eyes. A frost over the water.</p>
<p>“You still don’t want this, do you?” she asks, tucking her knees up under her chin.</p>
<p>He leans toward her, takes her hands into his. “Hey, no. I wanted this. I wanted <em>you.</em>”</p>
<p>“Past tense?”</p>
<p>“<em>No</em>.”</p>
<p>She unfurls herself, curling in back against his chest. “You know, in all of those romantic comedies you like to say real life is based on, the characters actually <em>want</em> to fall in love with their best friend.”</p>
<p>Logan brushes the hair off of her face. “You love me?”</p>
<p>Sunny day pool water eyes meet his. “Would it be so bad if I did?”</p>
<p>He kisses the crown of her head and she snuggles back down against him.</p>
<p>“Everything’s going to change now isn’t it?” he asks softly.</p>
<p>“Not everything. I still think you’re a jackass.”</p>
<p>“Veronica.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“The sex, as incredibly mind-blowing as that was, is going to change everything. It gets in the way.”</p>
<p>“Gets in the way of what? Our unresolved sexual tension? Our adorable spurts of banter? You worry too much, Echolls.”</p>
<p>Maybe so. But he’s not losing this. He’s not losing <em>her</em>. He’ll fight off whatever circumstances he has to for her. Even though he can’t shake the gut feeling that this was a step they weren’t completely ready to take.</p>
<p><em>It’s fine</em>, he tells himself. <em>Better than fine</em>.</p>
<p>He has her and she’s not running. So, neither will he.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She wakes up with the sun, her circadian rhythm more used to her by-the-book work schedule than lazy Sunday mornings with a man in her bed.</p>
<p>Holy shit.</p>
<p>There’s a naked man in her bed. A naked Logan. She slept with Logan.</p>
<p>She should be happy about this. She <em>is </em>happy about this. Why Carrie wanted to ditch all of that for someone else she’ll never know, but she’s grateful she got bored so she could have him instead.</p>
<p>But damn it, his anxieties about this changing everything between them, altering their whole dynamic, had wormed their way into her brain as she drifted off to sleep last night. For example, how was she supposed to tease him about the mysteries of her sex life when <em>he was</em> her sex life? And their late-night movie marathons would be in person now and not over the phone? He already doesn’t pay attention to half of the movie, and now he’s going to be right next to her trying to distract her even more?</p>
<p>But she kind of sort of told him that she loved him and he <em>stayed</em>. She called him up at one in the morning, hurt and in tears about someone else, and he took a cab halfway across town to come comfort her. Which kind of sort of tells her that he loves her too. And now she has this over-whelming urge to nudge him awake with her nose (who even does that??) just to ask him if he does – if he loves her.  </p>
<p>Was dating always this hard? Are they even dating? What’s happening here?</p>
<p>
  <em>Logan, wake up god damn it. </em>
</p>
<p>Veronica sits up in bed, noticing the movement doesn’t disturb him. She slides out from under the sheets, watching as he continues to sleep peacefully on. She heads to the kitchen and starts brewing a pot of coffee. He’ll help her drink it, right? He likes coffee, doesn’t he?</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh my god, Veronica, get it together! This is Logan. You’ve known him for years. You’ve seen him drink coffee dozens of times. </em>
</p>
<p>Why is this starting to feel like the most awkward one-night stand to ever exist? She doesn’t want it to be a one-time thing. But she’s out here and he’s still in there and she has no idea what the etiquette is with these things. Should she wake up him? If he wakes up and strolls out here, does she hug him? Kiss him?</p>
<p>What did she do the first time she and Duncan slept together? That seems like so long ago she doesn’t even remember. Should she have gotten dressed instead of just putting this robe back on?</p>
<p>
  <em>Good god, you have a law degree this should not be this hard. </em>
</p>
<p>How does the law degree help though? That means nothing.</p>
<p>The coffee machine stops making noises, indicating that her pot has been brewed and is ready. She’s jittery enough right now, she really does not need caffeine on top of this. But she pours herself a cup anyway, letting the mug warm her hands as she watches the steam rise from the liquid.</p>
<p>She can do this. <em>They</em> can do this. It’s the same her and Logan it’s always been. There’s just…some extras to their relationship now.</p>
<p>Her stomach growls and she moves to unwrap the loaf of bread so she can at least make some toast to have with her coffee. She’s sliding a couple of slices into the toaster, when she hears his footsteps. Her first thought is to panic that he’s dressed, but she quickly reminds herself he showed up in only a t-shirt and pajama pants to begin with.</p>
<p>He smiles when he sees her, and it makes her want to throw herself at him. She needs him to keep looking at her that way for the rest of forever.</p>
<p>Yeah okay, she can do this, they can do this.</p>
<p>“Coffee?” she asks, gesturing toward the fresh pot behind her.</p>
<p>He nods and she makes him his coffee just the way he likes it: two creams, no sugar. See? She <em>does</em> know him like the back of her hand.</p>
<p>She passes him his mug, feeling like her heart dropped right out of her chest at the changed expression on his face. That smile she wanted to see on him for the rest of forever? It’s been replaced by something looking entirely too anxious for her liking. Happily ever after was not as close as it had seemed.</p>
<p>“Just say it,” she tells him, ignoring the toaster as the toast pops up. “Whatever it is just say it.”</p>
<p>“I told myself I wasn’t going to run from this.”</p>
<p>“From your facial expression, I would guess there’s a ‘but’ coming,” she says, her grip tightening on her own coffee mug.</p>
<p>“I shouldn’t have –”</p>
<p>“No,” she cuts him off. “No, no, god you asshole, no.”</p>
<p>“Would you just let me finish?”</p>
<p>“Why? So you can tell me that last night was fun, but it was a mistake?”</p>
<p>“I don’t see it as a mistake. Do you see it as a mistake?”</p>
<p>“That depends on what you’re trying to tell me here.”</p>
<p>“You think it was a mistake,” he says, shaking his head.</p>
<p>“I never said that!”</p>
<p>“Maybe we just – maybe we need a break from each other.”</p>
<p>“What?” This conversation was spiraling out of control and she needed to get it back on track. Fast. “Go back. You shouldn’t have what? What did you start to say?”</p>
<p>He scrubs a hand over his face, staring at the still rising steam from his mug. “Look, I don’t want to call it a mistake because it was great and you’re great, but I shouldn’t have initiated it. It wasn’t the right time. You were upset and –”</p>
<p>“When <em>is </em>the right time, Logan? Five more years from now? Some point in the future after I go through a messy divorce because I didn’t love the guy the way I love you? There’s never going to be a perfect time, but it happened. What’s so wrong with that?”</p>
<p>“I just don’t want you to think that I noticed you were vulnerable and took advantage of you.”</p>
<p>She huffs. “Like a pity fuck? You think that’s what that was?”</p>
<p>“What? Veronica, no –”</p>
<p>“I get it, okay? I fell for you a long time ago and I let myself think that you felt the same way. Or that you would eventually, once you got over your ex. But you know that. You know how I feel about you and still –”</p>
<p>“I wasn’t using you for sex, will you just shut up and listen to me for five minutes?”</p>
<p>“No! Because you won’t listen to me!”</p>
<p>Logan sets down his coffee mug and moves around to the other side of the counter where she’s standing. He reaches out for her shoulders, trying to get her to look at him.</p>
<p>“I want to do this with you,” he tells her anyway, even though she won’t meet his eyes. “But I’m telling you, right now, I think we’re too close to this.”</p>
<p>“So what? You’re just going to disappear on me? Leave me just like everybody else does?”</p>
<p>“Veronica –”</p>
<p>“I thought you said there was nothing wrong with me.”</p>
<p>“There’s not.”</p>
<p>“Seems like just another lie so you could get in my pants and win your stupid bet.”</p>
<p>“You’re still not listening to me.”</p>
<p>She shakes her head, pushing him off of her and walking away from him. “Just get out, Logan.”</p>
<p>“You’re not the only one who’s in love right now,” he calls after her. “Do you get that? I’m in love with you too.”</p>
<p>She turns back around to face him, her arms crossed over her chest defensively. “It’s a shame. I don’t believe you.”</p>
<p>“What do I have to do, huh? Get down on one knee? Ask you to marry me right here and now?”</p>
<p>“I need you to stop second guessing everything! Either you want to be with me or you don’t. Either you love me or you don’t. There is no grey area here.”</p>
<p>“I’m telling you that I love you.”</p>
<p>“Then stay,” she tells him, her voice breaking, the tears she’s been managing to hold back finally rolling down her cheeks. “See this through. Be with me.”</p>
<p>“I just need some time –”</p>
<p>“No,” she says, shaking her head. “You don’t get any more time, Echolls. We’re done here.”</p>
<p>Veronica spins on her heel and storms off, locking herself in her bathroom. She doesn’t respond when he calls after her. She doesn’t respond when he tries to apologize. She doesn’t respond when he tells her that he can hear her crying and he loves her and please just open up the door. She stays locked in her bathroom, feeling like a pathetic, crumpled, crying mess on her floor, and doesn’t come back out until she hears the front door close.</p>
<hr/>
<p>All he’d wanted was to take a step back. A moment to sit and breathe and think before diving headfirst into this thing with her. He should have known better than to ask for that. He knows Veronica, feels like he knows her heart. She’s had years to sit and breathe and think with this and she was all in. He’d spent the better part of that time, trying to mend what Carrie broke. And Veronica had held him up through all of it. She was his rock, his cheerleader, someone who knew all of him and loved him anyway.</p>
<p>And he threw it all away for what? To waste more time agonizing over how becoming something more with her would eventually scare her away when simply <em>not</em> becoming something more with her was the breaking point?</p>
<p>She won’t return his calls. Jackie tells him she practically lives at the office now and barely returns her attempts to reach out.</p>
<p>He did this.</p>
<p>But he’d <em>tried</em>. He told her that he loved her. And he meant it. But her stubborn ass was stuck on everything else and she didn’t believe him. And it hurts like hell. Worse than Carrie cheating on him. Worse than his parents dying (but let’s be honest they weren’t the best parents in the first place). He just wants his friend back. He wants to wrap her up in his arms and apologize over and over and promise her that he’ll never abandon her again. Not like her mother did. Not like Duncan did.</p>
<p>Jesus, she has abandonment issues and he tried to ask for space after they had sex, what is wrong with him? She deserves better than him anyway. He’s always been the screw up. Why should that change now?</p>
<p>When Wallace and Jackie get engaged a few weeks later, he expects to see her at their engagement party. But Jackie tells him she’s stuck in court and won’t make it. He expects to see her at the rehearsal dinner since he’s the best man and she’s the maid of honor, but she’s apparently stuck at work. Again.</p>
<p>He doesn’t see her until that moment at the wedding ceremony where she’s forced to link her arm through his and walk down the aisle with him before Jackie makes her grand entrance. And even then, all he’s greeted with are the icy blue waters of her steely gaze.</p>
<p>He half expects her to ditch out on the reception entirely, but she stays, gives a killer maid of honor speech, and spends the evening laughing with her friends while ignoring him.</p>
<p>When it’s that point of the evening where the dance floor is filled with couples slow dancing to sappy music and the singles start sniffing each other out, he finds his resolve to go talk to her. She’s standing off to the side of the dance floor, swaying in time to the music, smiling as she watches Jackie laugh at whatever Wallace is whispering into her ear. Logan moves to stand next to her.</p>
<p>“You did that, you know,” he tells her. “You brought them together.”</p>
<p>“I had some help,” she shrugs.</p>
<p>“Work’s been keeping you pretty busy lately, hasn’t it?”</p>
<p>“Yep.”</p>
<p>
  <em>I’m sorry, I’m sorry, a million times, I’m sorry.</em>
  
</p>
<p>“That brunette over there keeps checking you out,” Logan tells her, gesturing in the guy’s direction with his shoulder.</p>
<p>“The last thing I need right now,” she mutters.</p>
<p>“Dance with me? It will keep him away, at least.”</p>
<p>She turns her gaze up to his. The ice hasn’t receded, but it might be melting. “Okay.”</p>
<p>He leads her out onto the dance floor and they hold each other like they had last New Year’s Eve, her arms around his neck, his hands at her hips, keeping space between them. He’d pull her in closer if he thought she wouldn’t resist.</p>
<p>“How’s your space been?” she asks, looking out past his shoulder.</p>
<p>Wow, okay shots fired. But he deserved that.</p>
<p>“It sucks,” he tells her. “I used to have this friend who would talk me out of searching Web MD for my symptoms every time I got a headache. Now I think there’s at least three different things that are going to kill me.”</p>
<p>“Sorry if I don’t make it to your funeral, I might have to work.”</p>
<p>“Veronica –”</p>
<p>“What do you want me to say, Logan? I don’t know how to fix the thing that you broke.”</p>
<p>“You really want to put all of the blame on me? As if we didn’t both play a part in the downfall of our relationship?”</p>
<p>“I wasn’t talking about our relationship,” she says softly. “I was talking about me. You broke <em>me</em>.”</p>
<p>That guts him. Right there and then.</p>
<p>“What happened to us, Veronica? How did we end up like this? We were so happy and now –”</p>
<p>“You were right all along. Our friendship didn’t work out because the sex got in the way.”</p>
<p>“It was over long before that. We fell for each other a long time ago.”</p>
<p>“Our friendship was over the moment we fell for each other? Have we been dating this whole time and no one bothered to tell us?”</p>
<p>“A secret relationship everyone else was in on expect for the people in the relationship.”</p>
<p>He catches the flicker of a smile that passes over her face. What else can he tell her to make her smile? What other life updates has she missed since they last spoke?</p>
<p>“You remember Parker?” he asks, tentatively.</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“I heard her apartment building caught on fire. No one was hurt, thankfully. And now she’s shacked up with one of the firemen.”</p>
<p>“Sounds like a Lifetime movie,” she tells him with a smirk.</p>
<p>“See? What’d I tell you? All fiction is based on fact.”</p>
<p>“Says the journalist.”</p>
<p>“Says the lawyer.”</p>
<p>The song changes to something more upbeat but they don’t shift away from each other just yet.</p>
<p>“Hey, look at us,” Logan starts, testing the waters. “This is more like the old us, huh?”</p>
<p>She shakes her head, that sad look returning to her eyes. “You just want to pretend like it never happened? It meant that little to you?”</p>
<p>“There you go again, making assumptions that I mean something else when I mean exactly what I just said. Nowhere in there did I say anything about us having meaningless sex.”</p>
<p>“I can’t do this,” she says shaking her head. “I can’t get into this same argument with you again.”</p>
<p>“What argument? Things were going fine. We were just discussing Parker staring in the Lifetime movie of her own life.”</p>
<p>“You want the sex to have never happened. You want to ignore it and all the messy feelings attached to it and pretend like we’re the same people we were a few years ago. But I can’t do that.”</p>
<p>“Well then, I’m sorry that I can.”</p>
<p>“Fuck you.”<br/><br/>“You already did.”</p>
<p>She smacks him across the face and storms off earning himself twin ‘what did you do?’ glares from Jackie and Wallace.</p>
<p>He and Veronica are never getting past this are they?</p>
<hr/>
<p>Logan calls her every day. Every day, she ignores his calls. He leaves her voicemails. She deletes them without listening to them. One night she’s too distracted sifting through her mail that she answers the phone when it rings without checking the caller ID.</p>
<p>“Don’t hang up,” he says in a rush on the other line.</p>
<p>“What do you want Logan?”</p>
<p>“Well, it’s the holiday season and the holidays are commonly a time for forgiveness, so I just wanted to call and say that I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>“Okay.”</p>
<p>She waits for him to say more. Waits for him to say anything at all, really.</p>
<p>“Look, I have to go,” she says, when all she hears is his breathing on the other line.</p>
<p>“No, wait! What are you doing for New Year’s? Is your firm throwing another big party again? Do you have a date? Because we always said if neither of us had a date, we’d be each other’s.”</p>
<p>“I can’t do this anymore, Logan. I’m not your consolation prize.”</p>
<p>She hangs up on him, her heart in her throat. It was never supposed to be this hard. He was never supposed to mean this much to her to hurt her like this. Fuck him and his hot chocolate brown eyes and his rest of forever smile. Mac never should have introduced them all of those years ago. They both would have been much better off.</p>
<hr/>
<p>New Year’s Eve rolls around and Logan realizes that he has absolutely no plans. Wallace tells him Jackie set Veronica up on some blind date for her firm’s party and then offered him the opportunity to third wheel with him and the Mrs. He passes.</p>
<p>He starts watching the Rockin’ New Year’s Eve special on TV and then starts thinking about how dumb it is that he lives in this city and is stuck watching this on TV. Although the people who stand in line for 12 hours just to stand outside in the frigid cold without food or a bathroom for even more endless hours may be even worse off than he is.</p>
<p>Still, being trapped inside tonight is making him anxious so he grabs his coat and starts just aimlessly wandering around the city. Before he even realizes it, his thoughts of Veronica have taken his aimless wandering and brought him straight to her office building. He stares up at the penthouse, where the party is in full swing. He spies the little balcony where they had retreated to last year. Has it really been an entire year since he was teasing her about New Year’s resolutions and lending her his suit jacket while he held her overlooking the city?</p>
<p>He has to tell her. He has to tell her about his New Year’s resolution from last year because he promised he would, and maybe, just maybe, it will help fix everything. That’s all he wants. No more goddamn space or time or waiting. He wants her forgiveness and her acceptance and to kiss her at midnight and every single day for rest of his life.</p>
<p>Is he really about to crash her law firm’s fancy party in sweatpants? Yes, this is what his life has come to.</p>
<p>Logan rushes into the building, right past the security guard yelling at him to stop. He bypasses the elevators and heads straight for the stairs, trying to evade the security guard even more. He takes the stairs two at a time until he remembers he has to go all the way up to the penthouse and exits the stairwell on the third floor to find the elevator. He has to find her fast before he gets escorted off the premises. At least he knows a good lawyer. If she’ll forgive him.</p>
<p>As soon as he gets off the elevator, he sees her, already retrieving her coat from the coat check. It’s only 11:50. Her date must be a dud, thank god.</p>
<p>“Veronica!”</p>
<p>She turns in his direction. “What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>“I love you,” he tells her in a rush.</p>
<p>“Logan, we’ve been through this,” she says, her gaze dropping to the floor.</p>
<p>He steps closer to her. “No, I don’t think you heard me. I love you.”</p>
<p>She bites her lower lip and looks up at him. No ice in her eyes tonight. Only sadness.</p>
<p>“Look, I know it’s New Year’s Eve and you’re lonely, but it doesn’t work this way.”</p>
<p>She turns toward the elevators and he pulls on her arm stopping her.</p>
<p>“Last year, you asked me what my New Year’s resolution was. I told you I wouldn’t tell you until this year, until tonight, until right now. My resolution was you, Veronica. For us to fall in love and have a life together. And I fucked it up, I know I did, and I’m sorry. I will keep apologizing to you every day for the rest of our lives if you just give me another chance.”</p>
<p>“Logan –”</p>
<p>“You want to know what I love about you? I love that your eyes remind me of the pool I had growing up and that the shade of blue shifts with your emotions. I love that you’re not afraid to call me out on my shit and go toe to toe with me in an argument. I love that you’ve carried around our inside jokes about fireworks and serendipity for all these years and that they still make you smile. I love that after spending the day with you I can still smell something that vaguely reminds me of marshmallows on my clothes, but they smell like you. And I love that you’re the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came looking for you tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. I’m done waiting, Veronica. I never should have waited to begin with. When you asked me to stay and be with you, I should have picked you up and carried you back to bed in some overly annoying manly gesture. Our life together should have started that night. And I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>She wipes at the corner of her eye, like she’s fighting back tears. “You see? That’s just like you, Logan. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you. And I hate you, Logan. I really hate you.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but do you love me?”</p>
<p>She squeezes her eyes shut like she’s trying to keep herself from crying. “You know I do.”</p>
<p>He reaches out and pulls her in for a kiss just as the crowd completes their midnight countdown and Auld Lang Syne starts playing. She lets him do it, melting into him like she’s already forgiven him.</p>
<p>“I hate you,” she mumbles again, burying her face in his coat when she pulls apart from the kiss.</p>
<p>Logan strokes a hand up and down her back. “I know.”</p>
<p>“You’re a jackass.”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>“But it is so exhausting being mad at you.”</p>
<p>He tilts her head up to his with his index finger under her chin. “I’m never going to abandon you. Not ever again. You’re stuck with me for a lifetime. Serendipity and fireworks all included.”<br/><br/>“You know what they say, don’t you?”</p>
<p>“What who says about what?”</p>
<p>She gives him a small smile. “They don’t write songs about the ones that come easy.”</p>
<p>He grins and her smile gets even bigger. “Are you going to write me a song, Ronnie?”</p>
<p>“You’re the writer in this relationship.”</p>
<p>“We’re in a relationship?”</p>
<p>She steps out of the circle of his arms and opens her purse. She pulls out a couple $20 bills and hands them to him.</p>
<p>“Is this prostitution?” he asks, accepting them.</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Am I going to get laid tonight?”</p>
<p>“That could be arranged, yes.”</p>
<p>“Ah okay I get it. You’re the pimp,” she says with a laugh.</p>
<p>“I hate you.”</p>
<p>“You love me.”</p>
<p>“Yo, Ronnie there you are!” a tall blonde man calls to her, walking out of the ballroom. “I had to kiss some random other chick at midnight because I couldn’t find you. I’m still good for it though if you want to cash in,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows.</p>
<p>“Only I get to call you Ronnie,” Logan mumbles at her side.</p>
<p>“Thanks, Dick, but I’m good. Think I’ll pass.”</p>
<p>“Whatever. Your loss.”</p>
<p>He turns and walks back into the party.</p>
<p>“Friend of yours?” Logan asks.</p>
<p>She shakes her head. “My blind date.”</p>
<p>“Does he even work here?”</p>
<p>“Nope.”</p>
<p>“Oh sure, they let him stay, but meanwhile security is after me.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>He points behind her to where the security guard is stepping off the elevator and glaring at him.</p>
<p>Veronica laughs. “It’s okay Frank. He’s with me.”</p>
<p>Franks shakes his head and turns around and steps back on the elevator.</p>
<p>“Now where were we?” she asks. “Something about you coming home with me tonight and possibly for the rest of forever?”</p>
<p>Logan leans in to kiss her again. “If I’m moving in, can I bring my stone rug?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“It’s a great rug!”<br/><br/>“It’s an outdoor rug.”</p>
<p>“It ties the whole room together.”</p>
<p>“It does not.”</p>
<p>“Rug classist.”</p>
<p>“Frat boy.”</p>
<p>“Snob.”</p>
<p>“Jackass.”</p>
<p>Logan slings an arm around her shoulders. “I can’t wait to irritate you for the rest of forever.”</p>
<p>“I question my life choices more and more every day.”</p>
<p>“Still love me?”</p>
<p>She pretends to think about it, wrapping her arms around his torso and curling into his side. “It’s been an entire year since the first time I realized I was in love with you. There’s no turning it off now.”</p>
<p>“Good. I’ve always wanted to fall in love with my best friend.”</p>
<p>“I’m going to kill you.”</p>
<p>“Good thing you know some good lawyers.”</p>
<p>She lets out an exasperated sigh as she lets him lead her onto the next elevator. They ride down to the first floor in silence, but she stops him when they get to the lobby.</p>
<p>“You felt fireworks that first day we met, didn’t you? That’s why you brought them up in the first place?” she asks.</p>
<p>“No one knows me better,” he says, kissing her on the forehead. “And I know for a fact, they were mutual. How else did we end up here?”</p>
<p>“Would you believe serendipity?”</p>
<p>Logan laughs, shaking his head. “We’ve got to watch that movie again. I think I talked through most of it.”</p>
<p>“You talk through most of every movie we watch. It’s infuriating.”</p>
<p>“Why do you put up with me?”<br/><br/>She shrugs. “Someone has to.”</p>
<p>He shoves her playfully before they step out into the chilly night air.</p>
<p>“Hey Veronica?”</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Thanks for being that one friend I knew in New York.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you all so much for taking this romcom journey with me! I had so much fun writing it, I really hope you all had just as much fun reading it. For those of you who know the movie, I hope I did it justice. For those of you who didn't previously, I promise it's a fun one if you're ever in the mood for a classic late 80s romcom! </p>
<p>And a special shout out to VMTAP20, for encouraging me to write this so quickly. I don't think I've ever turned out chapters this fast before! haha</p>
<p>One last disclaimer: I don't own any of the lines of dialogue I borrowed from this film.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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